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OFKICrAL DONATION. 



-^5irtvx. 



■'AAji^ 



With compliments of 

JAMES B. SENER, 
Box 95, 
Washington, 

Dist of Col. 

J^iease acAnowiedye after reading. 




Mount Vernon, as it appeared in 1856 when Association was char- 
tered. Taken from Howe's History of Virginia. 
Mr. Howe, in his history, says " The drawings for tlie engravings 
in this book were taken on tlie spot." 



THE REPORT 

OF THE 

Virginia Board of Visitors 
to Mount Vernon 

For the Year 1901. 



SHOWING THE HISTORY OF THE LADIES MOUNT VERNON 
ASSOCIATION OF THE UNION AND VIRGINIA'S CON- 
NECTION THEREWITH AND ACTION OF CONGRESS 
AND LEGISLATURE OF VIRGINIA TOUCHING 
REMOVAL OF REMAINS OF WASHINGTON. 



Fame spread her wings, and loud her trumpet blew : 
Great AVASHINGTON is near! What praise his due r 
What title shall he have ? She paused— and said, 
Not one; His Namf Alone Strikes Eoery Title Dead /" 

JDr. DeHaybn, 
Portsmouth, N. H. 1794. 



Washington's a watchword, such as ne'er 
Shall sink, while there's an echo left to air." 

Byron, 

Age of Bronze^ St. 5. 



RICHMOND:-, '^^ » '^ '.\'>\\ . 
J. H. O'Bannon, Superintendent ■frt'' PuBLfL';' Ir*k'ii^TfNG. 
1901. 



FROM THE PRESS OF 
CLYDE W. SAUNDERS 
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 



FEB 10 1902 
D.ofD, 






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T^lre Report of the Virginia. Board of 

Visitors to M.o\xt\t Vernon 

for the Year 1901. 



To His Excellency. J. Hoge Tyler, 

Governor of Virginia: 

Sir: 

On the 15th of May, 1901, whilst the Board of visitors appointed by 
your Excellency as the Virginia Board of Visitors to Mount Vernon for 
the year, April 11, 1901. to April 10, 1902, inclusive, were in session at 
Mount Vernon, on the Potomac, present Hon. J. L. M. Curry, Mr. R. L. 
Gardner, Capt. John A. Coke, and the undersigned, Hon. B. B. Munford 
absent by reason of illness, it was unanimously agreed that to the 
undersigned should be committed the duty of preparing the report of 
the Board for the present year, the first year of the new century. 

Mount Vernon, it will be recalled, was so named by Lawrence Wash- 
ington, George Washington's half-brother, in honor of Admiral Vernon, 
of the British Navy, under whom Lawrence Washington served in the 
preceding colonial days in the war against Spain. George Washingt.on 
inherited Mount Vernon from Lawrence Washington in 1753. The 
mansion now at Mount Vernon was built in part by Lawrence Wash- 
ington in the year 1743, and probably cost not exceeding $10,000. The 
barn on the place was built later, out of brick said to have been im- 
ported from England. 

Early' Legislation. 

In the Codes of 1860 and 1873, the following chapter is printed: 

"CHAPTER LXXV. 

"Of the remains of Washington * * * 
"Section 1. Resolutions for keeping the remains of Washington in 
Virginia. 

1. The General Assembly, by resolutions unanimously agreed to on 
the sixteenth of February, eighteen hundred and sixteen, requested, in 
the name of the State, that the remains of her beloved son, George 
Washington, might be removed from the family vault at Mount Ver- 
non, and interred near the Capitol of Virginia, beneath a monument 
to be erected at the public expense, and to serve as a memorial to future 
ages of the love of a grateful people; and. it not being thought proper 



to separate the remains of the illustrious deceased from those of his 
amiable and excellent wife, then lying interred in the same vault, 
permission was requested to remove also the remains of Mrs. Wash- 
ington, and to inter them with those of her husband under the same 
monument. The General Assembly could not, however, attain its wish 
in regard to the remains of either, and acquiesced in this result, 
because a desire had been expressed in the will of Washington that a 
new vault should be built at Mount Vernon and his remains deposited 
therein with those of deceased relations (then in the old vault), and 
such others of his family as should choose to be entombed there. 
Efforts were afterwards made by the Congress of the United States, 
which the General Assembly viewed with anxious solicitude. The fact 
that Virginia had been the birthplace of the best and most illustrious 
man that ever lived, was naturally calculated to inspire her citizens 
with a strong desire to keep his remains enshrined in the land of his 
nativity; and this desire was increased by the consideration that the 
burial ground was designated by the dying patriot himself. The Gen- 
eral Assembly, therefore, by resolutions unanimously adopted on the 
twentieth of February, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, earnestly re- 
quested the proprietor, in the name of the people of this State, not to 
consent to the removal of the remains of Washington from Mount Ver- 
non; and there they continue still." 

EXTKACT FROM MESSAGE OK JoH,\ QllXCV AdAMS. 

In this connection, it is well, I think, to embrace in this report the 
following extract from the annual message of President John Quincy 
Adams to Congress in December, 1825: 

"On the 24th of December, 1799, it was resolved by Congress that 
a marble monument should be erected by the United States in the Capitol 
at the City of Washington, that the family of Gen. Washington should be 
requested to permit his body to be deposited under it, and that the 
monument be so designed as to commemorate the great events of his 
military and political life. In reminding Congress of this resolution, 
and that the monument contemplated by it remains yet without execu- 
tion, I shall indulge only the remarks that the works at the Capitol 
are approaching to completion; that the consent of the family, desired 
by the resolution, was requested and obtained; that a monument has 
been recently erected in this city over the remains of another dis- 
tinguished patriot of the revolution, and that a spot has been reserved 
within the walls where you are deliberating for the benefit of this and 
future ages, in which the mortal remains may be deposited of him 
whose spirit hovers over you and listens with delight to every act of 
the representatives of his nation which can tend to exalt and adorn his 
and their country." 




Edward Vernon, British Admiral, born November 12, 1084; died 
October 2i», \7')7. Mount Vernon named after him. 



First Act Chartering Mount Vernon Association. 

The following act was passed by the General Assembly of Vii'ginia 
on the 17th of March, 1856: 

••Whereas, It appears to the General Assembly that the ladies of 
the United States, acting in the name and style of the Mount Vernon 
Ladies' Association of the Union, have undertaken to raise, by indi- 
vidual subscription, a fund to purchase and improve two hundred 
acres of Mount Vernon, with the generous and patriotic design that 
the estate so purchased shall include the late mansion as well as the 
tomb of General George Washington, and shall thereby be converted 
into public property, and forever held by the State of Virginia sacred 
to the memory of the father of his country; and. 

Whereas. It also appears that there has been already a large sum 
subscribed and paid in by them for the purposes aforesaid, and that it 
Is desired by said association that the State of Virginia shall receive 
said money, and hold and take care thereof for said association until 
an amount is obtained sufficient to accomplish said purchase: 

"1. Be it. therefore, bij the General Asfiembhj enacted. That the 
Treasurer of this Commonwealth shall receive into the treasury, all the 
money or moneys offered to him by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Asso- 
ciation of the Union, or by others in their behalf, and shall keep the 
same therein, except upon orders from the Governor of Virginia. The 
fund so raised shall be styled and known by the name of the Mount 
Vernon Ladies' Association Fund. But nothing herein shall be con- 
strued so as to make it obligatory on said association, or any branch 
or agency thereof, in any State, to pay or deposit their money in said 
treasury. 

2. The said Treasurer shall keep separate accounts for this fund, 
and shall report its amount and condition to the Governor every six 
months, and to the General Assembly at every session held while said 
fund is in his custody. He shall also procure, at the cost of the Com- 
monwealth, two books of proper size, and shall transcribe into each, 
in fair hand, the names of the contributors to the fund, and the sum 
contributed by each, so far as those names and respective sums are 
furnished to him by said association. One of these books shall be 
kept forever in the archives of Virginia, and the other shall be depos- 
ited in the least destructible part of any monument or other improve- 
ment which may be hereafter erected on said Mount Vernon. 

3. The Governor of this Commonwealth is hereby authorized and 
required to obtain, as soon as practicable, from John A. Washington, 
his heirs, or assigns, a contract, signed and sealed by him, and bind- 
ing him to convey, by proper deed to the State of Virginia, two hun- 
dred acres of land out of said Mount Vernon, at any time within five 



6 

years from the passage of this act, that the said Governor pays to him 
the sum of two hundred thousand dollars. 

4. The said deed of conveyance shall be in fee simple, reserving to 
the said grantor to inter, in or around the family vault, any and all mem- 
bers of the AVashington family, legally descended from the said John 
A. Washington; and the further right to maintain perpetually the 
interment of those already there. It shall recite that the purchase- 
money was paid by the ladies of the United States, acting in the 
name and style of the Mount Vernon Ladies" Association of the Union, 
and that at th,eir instance the said conveyance is made to the State of 
Virginia. And it shall covenant that the estate so conveyed shall 
be kept from injury and desecration, and held in trust for said asso- 
ciation, forever sacred to the memory of George Washington, whose 
mortal remains shall be kept perpetually thereon. And then, upon 
this further trust, that the said estate shall be subject to visitation by 
the State of Virginia, and to such proper and becoming improvements 
as the said association shall desire and determine to make. But in 
default of said association making such proper and becoming improve- 
ments, or keeping the same in proper repair, upon such default being 
found by a Board of Visitors, then said estate shall be subject to im- 
provement and repair at the pleasure of the State of Virginia; and to 
this end the possession of said estate shall vest in said State. 

5. The said two hundred acres of ground shall include the tomb 
of George Washington, mansion, garden, grounds, and the wharf and 
landing now constructed on the Potomac river. 

6. The Governor shall invest the money paid into the treasury on 
account of said association, as soon as convenient after he has notice 
thereof, in stock, or in loans to individuals, or to corporate bodies, on 
good and sufficient security, real and personal, at an interest of six 
per centum per annum, to be paid semi-annually, as may to said Gov- 
ernor seem best; and the profits arising from such investment shall 
also be semi-annually invested, or as soon thereafter as the same can 
be profitably done. And the said Governor shall so continue to invest 
said fund and the profits thereof until the same amount to the sum 
of two hundred thousand dollars; and shall thereupon proceed to pay 
the same to said John A. Washington, and receive from him the 
aforesaid deed of conveyance. The Governor shall in like manner 
invest all and any money of said association which is paid into said 
treasury for the purpose of improving said estate. 

7. The said association may charge, receive, and collect any fee 
which may be prescribed, not exceeding twenty-five cents, from each 
and every person over ten years of age, who may land at and visit 
Mount Vernon and the grave, tomb, or other place containing the 
remains of General Washington; but no greater sum or fee shall be 
charged or collected in any case. 



8. The Governor of Virginia shall annually appoint and commis- 
sion five fit and proper men, who shall constitute a Board of Visitors 
for Mount Vernon, with the ordinary powers of a Board of Visitors, 
whose duty it shall be to visit that place, and examine and faithfully 
report to the Governor all the proceedings of said association touch- 
ing Mount Vernon, and the manner in which they comply or fail to com- 
ply with this act and other laws of the land. The expenses of the said 
Board shall be paid out of the treasury of this Commonwealth, in the 
same manner that the expenses of other Boards of Visitors are paid. 

9. The said association are hereby declared and made a body, poli- 
tic and corporate, for the purpose of raising money to purchase and 
improve the aforesaid two hundred acres of land out of Mount Ver- 
non, and to possess and manage the same, as indicated and provided 
for in this act, under the name and style of the Mount Vernon Ladies' 
Association of the Union; and shall be subject to all the provisions 
and entitled to all the rights, powers, privileges, and immunities pre- 
scribed in the first and second sections of the fifty-sixth chapter of the 
Code of Virginia, in so far as the same are applicable to, and not incon- 
sistent with, the provisions of this act. But the said association shall 
not be entitled to the benefit of the foregoing provisions in this section 
until they shall have prepared a Constitution and By-Laws for said 
corporation, and have the same approved by the Governor of this State; 
and shall also file a copy thereof, so approved, in the office of the 
Secretary of the Commonwealth. 

10. This act shall be in force from its passage." 

The Present Charter of the Mount Vernon Association. 

Then follows this act, passed by the Legislature of Virginia, 
March 19th, 1858; this is the actof incorporation: 

"1. Be it enacted hy the General Assemtly, That the act 
entitled an act to incorporate the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association 
of the Union, and to authorize the purchase of a part of Mount Vernon, 
passed March 17, 1856, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as 
follows : 

Section 1. The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, 
as heretofore organized, shall be, and they are, hereby constituted a 
body, politic and corporate, under the name and style of the Mount 
Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union; and by this name and style 
shall be subject to all the provisions and entitled to all the rights, 
powers, privileges, and immunities prescribed by existing laws, in so 
far as the same are applicable to like corporations, and not inconsis- 
tent with this act. 

Sec. 2. It shall be lawful for the said Mount Vernon Ladies' Asso- 
ciation of the Union to purchase, hold and improve two hundred 
acres of Mount Vernon, including the late mansion, as well as the 



tomb of George Washington, together with the garden, grounds, and 
wharf and landing now constructed on the Potomac river; and to this 
end they may receive from the owner and proprietor of the said land 
a deed in fee simple; and shall have and exercise full power over the use 
and management of the same as they may by By-Laws and Rules declare; 
Provided, however, That the said Mount Vernon Ladies' Association 
of the Union 'shall not have power to alien the said land, or any part 
thereof, or to create a charge thereon or to lease the same without the 
consent of the General Assembly of Virginia first had and obtained. 

Sec. 3. The capital stock of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association 
of the Union shall not (including the two hundred acres of land afore- 
said) exceed the sum of five hundred thousand dollars. The said asso- 
ciation, in contracting with the proprietor of Mount Vernon for the 
purchase of the same, may covenant with him so as to reserve to him 
the right to inter the remains of such persons whose remains are in 
the vault at Mount Vernon, as are not now interred, and to place the 
said vault in such a secure and permanent condition as he shall see 
fit, and to enclose the same so as not to include more than a half acre 
of land; and the said vault, the remains in and around it, and the 
inclosure shall never be removed nor disturbed; nor shall any other 
person hereafter eveir be interred or intombed within the said vault 
or enclosure. 

Sec. 4. The said property herein authorized to be purchased by the 
said Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union shall be forever 
held by it sacred to the Father of his Country; and, if from any cause 
the said association shall cease to exist, the property owned by the 
said association shall revert to the Commonwealth of Virginia, sacred 
to the purposes for which it was originally purchased. 

2. This act shall be in force from its passage." 

BXEMPTIOX FROM TAXATION. 

By the Act of March 30, 1860, Mount Vernon was exempted from 
the payment of all State taxation (see also Code 1873, page 289, section 
14). This is no part of the charter and is a repealable act. This ex- 
emption from taxation is practically an indirect annual appropriation 
by the State to the association. Exemption from taxation for forty 
years has been worth to the association at least $40,000, estimating the 
Mount Vernon property as worth the purchase price of $200,000. Nearly 
fifty years ago it could have been sold for more money to speculators. 

Secretary and Superintendent Conservator of Peace. 

On the 26th of .January, 1874, the Legislature of Virginia passed an 
Act making the resident Secretary and Superintendent of Mount Ver- 
non Association a conservator of the peace within the limits of the 



Mount Vernon estate in Fairfax, and invested him with all the powers 
and duties then vested in Justices of the Peace. 

Act Authorizixg Appointment of Board of Visitors. 

On the 4th day of April, 1877, the following became a law: 

An Act to amend and re-enact Section 4 of an Act to amend the Act 
to incorporate the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, 
passed March 19, 1858, and add an additional section thereto. 

"Section 4. Be it enacted by the General Assembly. That Section 
4 of an Act passed March 19, 1858, entitled an Act to amend an Act to 
incorporate the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union and to 
authorize the purchase of a part of Mount Vernon, passed March 17, 
1856, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows: 

The said property herein authorized to be purchased by the said 
Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union shall be forever held 
by it sacred to the memory of the Father of his Country, and if from 
any cause the said association shall cease to exist, the property owned 
by the said association shall revert to the Commonwealth of Virginia, 
sacred to the purposes for which it was originally purchased, and if 
said Mount Vernon Association shall fail in making such proper and be- 
coming improvements to said property, or keeping the same in repair, 
upon such default being found by a Board of Visitors, then said estate 
shall be subject to improvement and repair at the pleasure of the State of 
Virginia, and to this end the possession of said estate shall vest in said 
State. 

Be it further enacted. That the following section shall be added 
to the above-mentioned Act, to be known as Section 5: 

Section 5. The Governor of Virginia shall annually appoint and 
commission five fit and proper men, who shall constitute a Board of 
Visitors for Mount Vernon, with the ordinary powers of a Board of 
Visitors, whose duty it shall be to visit that place and examine and 
faithfully report to the Governor all proceedings of said association 
touching Mount Vernon, and the manner in which they comply or fail 
to comply with this Act and other laws of the land. The expenses of 
said Board shall be paid by said association." 

Board of Visitors to Receive No Pay. 

The General Assembly, by an Act approved January 17, 1879, pro- 
vided that no allowance should be made by the Mount Vernon Ladies' 
Association of the Union, or the State, for expenses by the Mount Ver- 
non Board of Visitors in the discharge of their duties. 

Governor Lee and the Appointment of Board of Visitors. 

On page 5 of the Regent's report for 1886 are these words: 
"Some weeks since I wrote to Gov. Fitzhugh Lee, of Virginia, invit- 



10 

ing him to visit us at Mount Vernon during our Council, and inquiring 
the names of the Board of Visitors appointed for this year. I received a 
most courteous reply from the Governor, in v^^hich, after regretting that 
his engagements at this time must prevent him from visiting us, he 
writes thus: 

'I have not as yet appointed the Board of Visitors to Mount Ver- 
non, because I have grave doubts as to any authority for doing so, and 
shall therefore wait until I can examine into the whole subject.' " 

The Regent further says: 

"I am sure we must all appreciate Governor Lee's conscientious 
regard for the rights of our association which has induced him to 
determine to gravely and thoroughly examine into a question which, as 
you know, has been so freely discussed by our Council and our legal 
advisers." 

The Secretary of the Commonwealth, under date of June 22, 1901, 
says : 

"I do not find that Gov. Lee appointed a Board to Mount Vernon." 

Though Governor Lee declined during his term of office to appoint 
a Board of Visitors for Mount Vernon, the records show that Gen. 
Fitzhugh Lee served as a member of the Board of Visitors for Mount 
Vernon for 1874-1875, and also in 1877, by appointment of Gov. Kem- 
per, and again in 1878 by appointment of Gov. Holliday. 

Opintox of John Randolph Tucker as to the Mount Veknon Asso- 
ciation, AND THE Rights of the State in Connection Therewith. 

In this connection it seems timely to insert the opinion prepared 
May, 1885, by that distinguished jurist, the late Hon. J. Randolph 
Tucker, at the request of the Mount Vernon Ladles' Association upon 
the status of the charter of their association, and the rights 
of the State of Virginia in regard thereto. Allusion to this 
opinion was made in the report of the Board of Visitors for 1891, and 
a copy of the opinion accompanied that report. The copy which I 
here insert was furnished me by Col. L. Q. Washington, who was a 
member of that Board. The Hon. R. Walton Moore, of Fairfax, also 
a member of that Board, expresses the view that this opinion is abso- 
lutely sound in law, and in that I concur. The following is the 
opinion: 

"My opinion has been asked upon the present state of the charter 
of the 'Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union,' what consti- 
tutes it, and the rights of the State of Virginia in regard to the said 
association, and its visitorial power over it. 

I find some difficulty in answering these inquiries, from not know- 
ing exactly all the facts connected with them. 

The funds contributed for the corporate purposes being private, 
the corporation came originally under the head of a private eleemosy- 



11 

nary corporation, and its charter could not be repealed or altered in any 
material respect without its consent (Dartmouth College Case, 4 
Wheaton, 518). 

But the franchises and rights of all corporations are to be strictly 
construed in favor of the rights of the public, and against the claims 
of the corporation (Charles River Bridge Co. vs. Warren River Bridge 
Co., 11 Peters, 420). 

The original Act of incorporation was passed March 17, 1856. 
That Act recited that the contributions should be applied to the pur- 
chase of the mansion and tomb of George Washington, with 200 acres, 
to be held by the State of Virginia; that the fund was to be held by 
the treasury of the State until $200,000 was raised, to be paid for the 
same, and a deed to be made to the State. The right of visitation was 
reserved to the State, and in case the association did not make proper 
improvements, etc., and such default being found by a Board of Vis- 
itors, then the right was reserved to the Governor to appoint five 
visitors annually to report upon the conduct of the property, etc. The 
association was incorporated, with a corporate name and power to pos- 
sess and manage the property, subject to first and second sections of 
Chapter 56 of the Code of Virginia; but with a condition that before 
taking the benefit of the Act of incorporation, it should prepare a_ 
Constitution and By-Laws, to be approved by the Governor, and file a 
copy thereof in the office of the Secretary of State, etc. 

I am not informed whether this Act was complied with as to the 
Constitution and By-Laws. I take this for granted, and proceed upon 
the conception that it was regularly done. 

This Act of March 17, 1856, constituted the charter of the associa- 
tion. Under it, the power of visitation, the right to improve the 
property and the title thereto, were reserved to the State. 

Under this Act, I assume ( though I have no precise information 
about it) that the Constitution and By-Laws which I find in the pam- 
phlet herewith enclosed, were adopted, and approved by the Governor 
of Virginia. That provided the governmental machinery for the incor- 
poration. 

I come now to the Act of March 19, 1858. This Act essentially 
changed the charter of 1856. If, as I have said, this corporation was 
an eleemosynary one, private in its foundation, this change of charter, 
unless with the consent of the corporation, was of no effect. Whether 
that consent has been given I am not informed, but I shall assume that 
it has been. As the deed for the property has been made, not to the 
State, but to the association, and that could only be done under the 
Act of 1858, this would imply a consent, if none had been expressed. 

The important question now arises, has the Act of 1858 superseded 
entirely the provisions of the Act of 1856? Has it repealed the charter 
of 1856 so that it is no longer in force? Or has it mei'ely modified it? 



12 

This is a question of real difficulty. The Constitution of Virginia, 
Article 4, Section 16 (then in force — that is, in 1856 and 1858) provided 
that 'no Act shall he revived or amended by reference to its title, but 
the Act revived, or section amended, shall be re-enacted and published 
at length.' 

The Act of March 19, 1858, enacted that the Act of 'March 17, 
1856, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows.' It does not 
select any section of the Act of 1856 to be amended and re-enacted. 
It declares the Act itself shall be amended and re-enacted — that is, 
're-enacted and published at length,' so as to read as follows. 

It seems to me, therefore, that the Act of 1856 was intended to be 
wholly superseded by the Act of 1858 — and that the charter of the 
corporation thereafter was contained in the Act of 1858, if the asso- 
ciation consented to it. 

The effects of this change in its charter will now be considered. 

Under the laws of Virginia, applicable to corporations, the gov- 
ernment of its affairs would be very different from that of a Board of 
Regents. Indeed, as no new governmental machinery is prescribed by 
the Act of 1858, the corporation would exist without any agencies to 
conduct its affairs, except for the potential words in the first section of 
the Act. It incorporates the association 'as heretofore organized.'' 
The organism existing and constituted before and at the date of the 
Act of March 1^. 1858, is the permanent, fixed and unchangeable 
machinery for the regulation of the affairs of the association. I will 
not say that a change may not be made under fourth by-law in the 
Constitution of the association, which might change the governmental 
machinery. On this I express no opinion, as it is unnecessary. 

But it is very doubtful whether any change can be made, as the 
charter itself has incorporated the existing machinery as that which 
the Legislature meant to create and fix as the organic power to regulate 
its affairs. No other corporation, with power to amend by-laws, can 
make any radical changes in its chartered government; and, as the 
corporation is subject to all laws then existing, the general limitation 
imposed on the power of others would equally apply to this. And espe- 
cially would this power to change be denied when the Legislature had the 
Constitution of the association filed in the office of the Secretary of the 
Commonwealth, and the inference of power is never made against the 
right of the public in favor of any corporate claim (Charles River 
Bridge case, already cited). 

This new charter has in it clear and stringent limitations on the 
power of the association. The State, in whom the legal title was to 
vest under the original charter, has by this new charter given that title 
to the association. In the second section of the Act of 1858, the asso- 
ciation was forbidden to alien, change or lease the same without the 
consent of the General Assembly of Virginia. The third section placed 



13 

important limits on its power over the tomb and the right of burial 
there. 

The fourth section enjoined the holding by the association 'to be 
sacred to the Father of his Country,' and in case the association 'from 
any cause' ceased to exist, 'the property owned by the said association 
shall revert to the Commonwealth of Virginia, sacred to the purposes 
for which it was originally purchased.' This language is pregnant 
with meaning. It means: 

1st. That the association, in its corporate character, holds the 
property under a trust to keep it sacred to the Father of his Country. 
It holds not in absolute right, but in trust, under this injunction of its 
charter imposed upon it by the General Assembly of Virginia. 

2d. The association ceasing to be, the property reverts, turns back 
to the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Commonwealth gave up its 
title to the association. When it ceases to be, the giver takes back the 
gift from the dead donee. 

3d. But how can it cease to exist? It may forfeit its charter, by 
abuse of its power, or by non-use of its power. A violation of its char- 
ter may authorize the Commonwealth, by quo warranto, to dissolve 
the corporation. When, from any cause, by voluntary abandonment, 
or by abuse of its functions, it ceases to be, the Commonwealth will 
own Mount Vernon and fulfill the sacred trust which the association 
has forfeited. 

4th. The new charter seems to do more: The original foundation of 
the association, as I have conceded, seems to have been private, and the 
corporation instituted by the first charter was eleemosynary, or a 
private foundation. The last charter changes this. The Common- 
wealth, in whom the title was to vest, now gives that title to the asso- 
ciation. This makes the corporation of a piihlic foundation. The 
founder of it is the State. It gives the property for corporate use; 
and, like every founder of an eleemosynary corporation, Virginia has 
the undoubted right to visit it and see that the corporate property is 
legally and properly used. This is the doctrine recognized in the Dart- 
mouth College case, on the basis of the celebrated judgment of Lord 
Holt, in Phillips vs. Berry. 1 Lord Raymond, 5 S. C; 2 T. R., 346. 

This being so, it is the undoubted right of the Legislature of Vir- 
ginia to appoint a Board of Visitors, as has been done by the Act 
approved April 4, 1877, Acts of Assembly 1876-77, page 355; also for the 
police of the property by Act approved January 26, 1874, Acts of Assem- 
bly 1874, page 16. 

I am, therefore, of opinion that the Board of Visitors have the 
right to visit, examine and report to the Governor of Virginia upon the 
proceedings of the association and upon their compliance with their 
trust. 

And I am further of opinion that under the new charter, if the asso- 



14 

ciation fail in duty, Virginia will have the right, by quo 'warranto, 
to forfeit the charter; and if, upon legal judgment on such proceed- 
ings, or in any other way, the corporate existence is terminated, the 
property will, by the charter, revert to the Commonwealth of Virginia. 

Very respectfully, 

J. R. TUCKER. 
For the Board of Regents of the Mount Vernon Association." 
May 19, 1885. 

AtTOKNEY-GeNERAI, MOA'TAGl'E CONCURS IN Mk. TuCKER'S Oi'INION. 

Attorney-General Hon. A. J. Montague concurs in this opinion, 
under date of August 26, 1901, in these words: 

"I concur in the opinion of Mr. Tucker. Assuming the facts 
stated by him, the conclusions reached seem to me inevitable." 

In the report of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association for 1885, the 
Vice-Regent for Virginia reported that the Hon. J. Randolph Tucker 
had declined to receive compensation for professional services ren- 
dered in the preparation of a legal opinion. No doubt, the opinion 
hereinbefore quoted. The Regent and Vice-Regents tendered Mr. 
Tucker a vote of thanks at their 1885 meeting, May 20th of that year. 

Below is a copy of the Constitution and By-Laws of the Mount 
Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, as printed by them in 1890. 
It will be remembered that the Act of March 17, 1856, in the 9th section 
thereof, provided that the association should not be entitled to the 
benefit of that Act until it should have prepared a Constitution and 
By-Laws for said corporation, and should have the same approved by 
the Governor of the State,, and should also file a copy thereof, so 
approved, in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. Secre- 
tary of the Commonwealth Lawless certifies under date of June 22, 
1901, as follows: 

"I find by reference to the Executive Journal that the Constitution 
and By-Laws required by the Act of 1856 appear to have been filed in 
this office. This entry was made on January 5, 1858." 

CONSTITt TION AND By-LaWS OF MoUNT VeKXO.X ASSOCIATION. 

"Constitution. 
Preamble. 

"For the purpose of securing the great ends of their charter, the 
Mount Vernon Ladies' Asociation of the Union ordain this Constitu- 
tion : 

1st. The officers of this association shall consist of a Regent, Vice- 
Regents, Secretary, Treasurer, and such subordinate officers as may be 
from time to time appointed. 

2d. The Regent shall be the President of the association, and of 



15 

the Grand Council, and the "Southern Matron" shall be the first Regent, 
and in case of her death before the organization of the association, she 
shall have the power, by will or otherwise, of naming her successor 
until the organization. 

3d. The Regent shall have the first nomination of the Vice-Regents. 
One shall be appointed, if practicable, from each State in the Union. 
They, with the Regent, shall constitute the Grand Council. 

4th. Vacancies in the Regency shall be filled by the Grand Council, 
and vacancies in the Vice-Regencies by the Regent, with the advice of 
the Grand Council. 

5th. The Secretary, Ti-easurer, and subordinate officers shall be 
appointed by the Regent, with the advice of the Grand Council. 

6th. The Grand Council shall be held annually, and additional 
meetings may be called by the Regent whenever the exigencies of the 
association may, in her discretion, require their convocation; and the 
Regent, with any two or more Vice-Regents, or any three or more 
Vice-Regents without the Regent, shall constitute a quorum; and in 
case of the death or absence from the United States of the Regent, any 
three Vice-Regents may convoke the Grand Council. 

7th. In the absence of the Regent, the Vice-Regents present at any 
meeting of the Grand Council shall elect from among themselves a 
President pro tempore. 

8th. The Regent shall have the power to appoint local Boards of 
Managers in the several States, which shall be entitled to send advis- 
ory delegates to the Grand Council. 

9th. The legislative power of this association shall be vested in 
the Grand Council, or a quorum thereof, subject to the control of the 
association at their meetings; and during the recess of the associa- 
tion and of the Grand Council, the general direction and order of the 
affairs of the association shall be vested in the Regent, subject to the 
control of those bodies at their respective meetings. 

10th. A meeting of the association shall be held at Washington or 
Mount Vernon, whenever in the opinion of the Council it shall be 
deemed necessary, or whenever a majority of the members of the asso- 
ciation shall, in writing, request the Regent to call a meeting of the 
association. 

By-Law.s. 

1st. The Regent, or, in her absence, the President pro tem.pore of 
the Grand Council, shall preside and preserve order, and direct the 
course of business at the meetings of the association, and of the Grand 
Council. 

2d. The Secretary shall attend the meetings of the association, and 
of the Grand Council, and shall keep a faithful record of the proceed- 
ings of both bodies. The Treasurer shall also attend the said meet- 



16 

ings and keep a faithful account of the funds and assets, and of the 
receipts and disbursements of the association, and make report of the 
same at such meetings, and may be required by the Regent or Grand 
Council to give bond, with good and sufficient surety or sureties, for 
the faithful discharge of efficient duty. The Secretary and Treasurer 
may receive such compensation or salary as may be allowed them by 
the Grand Council, or by the Regent, during the recess of that body; and 
these officers, if it be deemed expedient, may be united in the same per- 
son. 

3d. The organization of the local Boards, and their rights and 
duties, shall be prescribed by the Regent, subject to the control of the 
Grand Council. 

4th. The foregoing Constitution and By-Laws may be altered or 
amended, or any additions may be made thereto by a majority of the 
members present at any meeting of the association, or of the Grand 
Council." 

By-Laws Governing Council. 

The ladies have also adopted and printed in their annual report for 
1901, "By-Laws governing the Grand Council." These are mere rules 
for the management of Mount Vernon, and rules of order for the gov- 
ernment of the Council when in session, are (well drawn) subject to 
change, but need not here be repeated. 

Committees of Council. 

There are fifteen committees of the Vice-Regents: Finance, Man- 
sion, Tomb, Relics, Grounds and Shrubs, Farm, Library, Garden and 
Greenhouse, Records, Furniture of Mansion, Index, By-Laws, Rules, 
Kitchen Garden; also a Press Committee, to give reports of the daily 
sessions of the Council. Each Vice-Regent is assigned on an average 
to three of these committees. 

The Council — How Composed. 

The Regent and Vice-Regents compose the Council, which controls 
and manages Mount Vernon and its business affairs. These meet at 
Mount Vernon annually in May, and sojourn there during their ses- 
sions, which usually extend over a period of about ten days. 

The Regent and Vice-Regents are paid out of the funds of the asso- 
ciation, their actual traveling expenses in attending the annual Coun- 
cil, but many of the ladies of the Council from time to time have 
declined to accept even their expenses, and a number of them, notably 
the Regent, Mrs. Townsend, Mrs. Mitchell, of Wisconsin; Mrs. Hearst, 
of California; Miss Longfellow, of Massachusetts; Mrs. Hill, of Colo- 
rado; Mrs. Graham, of Missouri, and others, seem not only to have 
declined to accept their travelling expenses, but have, in addition, made 
large contributions to the association. 



17 

The Regents and Vice-Regents of the Association Since its Organ- 
ization IN 1858. 

MISS ANN PAMELA CUNINGHAM, 

Regent. 

Resigned, 1873; died May 1, 1875. 

VICE-REGENTS. 

1858— 

1. Mrs. Anna Cora Ogden Ritchie, resigned, 1866 Virginia 

2. Mrs. Alice H. Dickinson, resigned, 1859 North Carolina 

3. Mrs. Philoclea Edgeworth Eve, died, 1889 Georgia 

4. Mrs. Octavia Walton Le Vert, died, 1877 Alabama 

5. Mrs. Catherine A. McWillie, died, 1873 Mississippi 

6. Mrs. Margaretta S. Morse, resigned, 1873 Louisiana 

7. Mrs. Mary Rutledge Fogg, died Tennessee 

8. Mrs. Elizabeth M. Walton, resigned, 1858 Missouri 

9. Miss Mary Morris Hamilton, died, 1877 New Yorlc 

10. Mrs. Louisa Ingersoll Greenough, resigned, 1865. .Massachusetts 

11. Mrs. Abba Isabella Little, resigned, 1866 Maine 

12. Mrs. Catherine Willis Murat, died, 1867 Florida 

13. Mrs. Mary Boot Goodrich, resigned, 1861 Connecticut 

14. Miss Phebe Ann Ogden, died, 1867 New Jersey 

15. Mrs. Alice Key Pendleton, died, 1886 Ohio 

16. Mrs. Abby Wheaton Chace, died, 1892 Rhode Island 

17. Mrs. Jane Maria Van Antwerp, died Iowa 

18. Mrs. Mai'garet Ann Comegys, died, 1888 Delaware 

19. Mrs. Hanna Blake Farnsworth, died, 1879 Michigan 

20. Mrs. Sarah King Hale, resigned, 1861 New Hampshire 

21. Mrs. Martha Mitchell Wisconsin 

22. Mrs. Rosa Vertner Johnson, died Kentucky 

1859— 

23. Mrs. Elizabeth Willard Barry, died, 1884 Illinois 

24. Mrs. Sarah J. Sibley, died, 1869 Minnesota 

25. Mrs. Mary Pepperell Jarvis Cutts, resigned, 1878 Vermont 

26. Miss Lily Lytle Macalester, died, 1891 Pennsylvania 

27. Mrs. Magdalen G. Blanding, resigned, 1883 Califoirnia 

28. Mrs. Harriet V. Fitch, died, 1880 Indiana 

29. Mrs. Sarah H. Johnson, died, 1866 Arkansas 

30. Mrs. Anne Lucas Hunt, died, 1878 Missouri 

31. Mrs. Letitia Harper Walker North Carolina 

1860— 

32. Mrs. Mary Chestnut, died, 1861 South Carolina 

1866— 

33. Mrs. Margaret J. M. Sweat Maine. 

34. Miss Emily L. Harper, died, 1891 Maryland 



18 

35. Mrs. Lucy H. Pickens, died, August, 1899 ..South Carolina 

36. Mrs. M. E. Hickman, resigned, 1867 Nevada 

37. Mrs. M. A. Stearns, resigned, 1872 New Hampshire 

38. Mrs. Emily R. M. Hewson, resigned, 1866 Ohio 

39. Miss Ella Hutchins, resigned, 1866 Texas 

1867— 

40. Mrs. Janet M. C. Riggs, resigned, 1868 District of Columbia 

41. Mrs. Maria Brooks, resigned, 1876 New York 

42. Mrs. Matilda W. Emory, resigned, 1873 District of Columbia 

43. Mrs. Nancy Wade Halstead, died, 1891 New Jersey 

1868— 

44. Mrs. Nannie C. Yulee, died, 1884 Florida 

1870— 

45. Mrs. Susan E. Johnson Hudson Connecticut 

46. Mrs. Betsy C. Mason, died, 1873 Virginia 

47. Mrs. A. P. Dillon, resigned, 1873; died, 1898 Iowa 

48. Mrs. Ella Bassett Washington, died, 1898 West Virginia 

1872— 

49. Mrs. William Balfour, resigned, 1875 Mississippi 

50. Mrs. Mary T. Barnes District of Columbia 

51. Mrs. David Urquhart, resigned, 1876 Louisiana 

52. Mrs. M. E. Maverick, resigned, 1873 Texas 

53. Mrs. C. L. Scott, resigned, 1878 Arkansas 

This was the last appointment of Miss Cuningham, first Regent. 

MRS. LILY L. M. BERGHMAN, 

(Made Acting Regent May, 1873; Regent, June 2, 1874.) 

Second Regent. 

Died, 1891. 

VICE-REGENTS. 
1874— 

54. Mrs. Emma Reed Ball Virginia 

55. Mrs. Aaron V. Brown, died, 1883 Tennessee 

1875— 

56. Mrs. Lily L. Broadwell, died, 1889 Ohio 

57. Mrs. John P. Jones Nevada 

1876— 

58. Mrs. Jennie Meeker Ward Kansas 

59. Mrs. Justine Van Rensselaer Townsend New York 

1878— 

60. Mrs. J. Gregory Smith, resigned, 1880 Vermont 

1879— 

61. Miss Alice Longfellow Massachusetts 

62. Mrs. Robert Campbell, died, 1882 Missouri 



19 

1880— 

63. Mrs. Ida A. Richardson Louisiana 

1882— 

64. Mrs. Ella S. Herbert, died, 1884 Alabama 

1885— 

65. Mrs. Elizabeth B. Adams Rathbone Michigan 

66. Mrs. Mary T. Leiter Illinois 

67. Mrs. Janet De Kay King, died, 1896 Vermont 

68. Mrs. Elizabeth Woodard, died, 1897 Kentucky 

1888— 

69. Miss Harriet Clay Comegys Delaware 

70. Mrs. Fanny Gilchrist Baker Florida 

1889— 

71. Mrs. Alice Hill Colorado 

72. Mrs. Rebecca B. Flandrau Minnesota 

73. Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst Oalifornia 

1890— 

74. Mrs. A. R. Winder New Hampshire 

1891— 

75. Mrs. Georgia Page Wilder Georgia 

This was the last nomination of Mrs. Lily Macalester Laughton, 

second Regent (Madarde Berghman), who died November 4, 1891. 

MRS. JUSTINE VAN RENSSELAER TOWNSEND, 

Third Regent. 

(Elected temporary Regent December, 1891, and Regent June, 1892.) 

VICE-REGENTS. 
1893— 

76. Mrs. George R. Goldsboro Maryland 

77. Mrs. J. Dundas Lippincott, died, 1894 Pennsylvania 

78. Miss Mary Lloyd Pendleton, resigned, 1897 Ohio 

79. Mrs. Philip Schuyler, resigned, 1891 New York 

80. Mrs. Christine Blair Graham Missouri 

81. Mrs. Francis S. Conover New Jersey 

82. Miss Mary Polk Yeatman Tennessee 

1893-1894— 

83. Miss Lelia Herbert, died, 1897 Alabama 

1895— 

84. Mrs. Robert H. Clarkson, resigned, 1900 Nebraska 

85. Mrs. William Ames Rhode Island 

86. Miss Amy Townsend New York 

1896— 

87. Mrs. Charles Custis Harrison Pennsylvania 

88. Mrs. Thomas S. Maxey Texas 



20 

1898— 

89. Mrs. James E. Campbell Ohio 

1901— 

90. Mrs. Robert D. Johnston Alabama 

91. Mrs. C. F. Manderson Nebraska 

92. Mrs. Eugene Van Rensselaer West Virginia 

Virginia Legislative Histoky Touching Mount Vernon, Beginning 
December 3, 1853. 

I next include the legislative history of the State of Virginia, 
touching Mount Vernon, beginning with the message of Governor 
Joseph Johnson, December 5, 1853, to the Legislature of that year: 

"I cannot refrain from respectfully and earnestly recommending 
to the Legislature the propriety of the purchase of Mount Vernon by 
the State of Virginia, and I do so at this time more particularly, as 
there is reason to apprehend that it is about to pass into the hands of 
strangers. The importance of the acquisition of this property by the 
United States has frequently been brought to the attention of Congress, 
and it is surprising that this commendable project has met with so 
little favor. For this we should ever feel thankful, because, if once 
the property of the Federal Government, we might never have been 
able to purchase it. This should never be. Whilst we might reason- 
ably prefer that it should be the property of the Union, rather than 
belong to any private individual, yet Virginia, and she only, should 
be the owner and have control of this sacred spot, where rest the mor- 
tal remains of her immortal son. Who else but Virginia should own 
this hallowed spot, and guard and protect the grave of him whose 
name will be revered as long as one shall live to admire American lib- 
erty, and should some ruthless hand ever disturb the sepulcher of the 
honored dead, or even change the primitive simplicity of his former 
residence, a sense of shame would come over every Virginian, and he 
would feel that that had been a loss which could not be estimated in 
dollars and cents. If it can be purchased, then, upon fair and reason- 
able terms, let us do it at once, that we may preserve it in its primitive 
simplicity and beauty, to be freely resorted to by all admirers of true 
greatness and human liberty, and be gazed on by all who may pass 
upon the beautiful Potomac." 

"Considering the character of him whose name has thrown this 
halo of glory around the spot, and in view of the fact that, foremost 
as usual in whatever was good and great, he presided over the first 
agricultural society that ever met in Virginia, I do not know that the 
property could be more appropriately disposed of than to convert it 
into a model farm, and establish upon it a State agricultural school. 
If this disposition should not meet your approbation, then it might be 



21 

well to consider the propriety of establishing there a literary institu- 
tion of some kind upon a different basis; the first object, however, 
should be the acquisition of the property." 

IN THE HOUSE OP DELEGATES OF VIRGINIA. 
. December 17th, 1853. 

On motion of Mr. BuforcL: 

Resolved, That the portion of the Governor's message relative to 
the purchase of Mount Vernon be referred to a special committee of 
five, with instructions to inquire into the expediency of purchasing 
the same on behalf of the State. Also to inquire as to the price and 
terms upon which such purchase may be negotiated, and as to what 
disposition should be made of this sacred homestead of our illustrious 
patriot, if it shall be found expedient for the State to purchase the 
same. 

Monday, December 19, 1853. 

The committee to consider Mount Vernon legislation was appointed 
as follows: 

Buford, McKenzie, Stevens, Dunn, Carter, of Fauquier. 

March 3, 1854. 

Mr. Buford presented a report of the special committee in rela- 
tion to the purchase of Mount Vernon by the Commonwealth, as fol- 
lows: 

"The undersigned committee, to whom was referred the resolution 
adopted by the House of Delegates, on the 17th day of December, 1853, 
directing an inquiry into the expediency of acquiring Mount Vernon 
by the State of Virginia, the terms upon which such acquisition could 
be made, and the best mode of disposing of such property, if acquired, 
beg leave to sumbit the following report: 

On the 20th of December, the committee addressed a letter to John 
A. Washington, Esq., informing him of the purpose of their organization 
and soliciting a free communication of his views on the subject to the 
committee. In reply, under date of the 31st of December, Mr. Wash- 
ington expressed his willingness to alien the property to the State, and 
proposed definite terms on which he was disposed to transfer the prop- 
erty. The committee thought proper, in a second communication, to sug- 
gest a modification of his terms as a basis of arrangement satisfactory 
to them, and probably to the Legislature, which, however, was declined 
on the 16th of January. The committee then continued the further 
consideration of the subject with a view to a personal conference with 
William Arthur Taylor, Esq., the authorized agent of Mr. Washington, 
which, however, resulted in a failure to accommodate the terms of 
the proprietor to the views of the committee. 



22 

The committee take occasion to say that they exceedingly desired to 
be able to report in favor of the acquisition of this property by the 
State on terms compatible with the public interests, but have not been 
able to see the propriety, under the present condition of our finances, 
of recommending the acquisition of the property on the terms proposed. 
These terms are stated thoroughly in detail in the correspondence here- 
with submitted, which in justice to Mr. Washington, as well as to the 
committee, they recommended to be printed.* 

Under this state of facts the committee have adopted the following 
resolution: 

Resolved, That the committee ask to be discharged from the further 
consideration of the subject. 

Respectfully submitted, 

A. S. BUPORD, 

LEWIS Mckenzie, 

ISAAC B. DUNN, 
RICHARD H. CARTER, 
WM. G. STEVENS. 

(From Richmond Enquirer, July 14, 1854.) 
ORGANIZATION OF THE VIRGINIA MOUNT VERNON 
ASSOCIATION. 
July 12, 1854. 
In accordance with previous notice, a respectable number of ladies 
of Richmond assembled at Metropolitan Hall Wednesday evening at 6 
o'clock for the formation of an association to raise money to aid in the 
purchase of Mount Vernon, to be held in trust by the Governor of Vir- 
ginia, and his successors, an object which cannot but be viewed with 
admiration, and one with which all patriotic hearts will truly sym- 
pathize. 

Mr. J. H. Gilmer called the meeting to order, and stated that it 
was well understood that Mrs. Dr. Cabell would be called to preside. 
He, however, submitted the question to the meeting, and Mrs. Cabell 
was unanimously chosen to preside. 

Rt. Rev. Dr. Atkinson, Bishop of North Carolina, who was present, 
opened the meeting with prayer. 

Mrs. T. H. Ellis was requested to act as Secretary of the meeting. 



*These letters were not found in the public document from which 
this report is taken. 

"Col. A. S. Buford, who was chairman of the foregoing committee, 
says in a recent letter to the undersigned: 

"Possibly it is fortunate that the matter went as it did, as subse- 
quent events have placed the care and protection of the property upon 
most secure and appropriate foundation." 



23 

Mr. J. H. Gilmer then submitted the draft of a constitution for the 
government of the association, which met with unanimous approval, 
and was adopted. 

The following permanent officers were then elected: 

President, Mrs. Julia M. Cabell; Vice-Presidents, Mrs. E. Sims, Mrs. 
Pellet, Mrs. Dunlop, Mrs. W. V. Robinson and Mrs. Pegram; Recording 
Secretary, Mrs. Wm. F. Ritchie; Corresponding Secretary, Mr. J. H. 
Gilmer; Treasurer, Wm. H. Macfarland. 

Mr. Gilmer then read an address to the ladies of Virginia which 
he had prepared by request. The address was adopted. 

A resolution was adopted providing for the appointment of a com- 
mittee to correspond with the proprietor of Mount Vernon and ascer- 
tain upon what terms he will sell the place. Mr. Gilmer was appointed 
for the purpose. 

The President then, in the name of the ladies, thanked Mr. Gilmer 
for the assistance he had rendered them, and for the interest he had 
manifested in the cause in which they were about to embark. 

Mrs. Cabell then requested Governor Johnson, who was present, to 
address the meeting. Governor Johnson stated that, although the 
morning's paper announced that he was to speak on this occasion, he 
had not entertained any thought of it. Indeed, for the past few days 
every moment of his time had been occupied in official duties prepara- 
tory to leaving the city, which he expected to do to-morrow morning. 
Several years ago, said Governor Johnson, when I was in the Congress 
of the United States, a proposition for the purchase of Mount Vernon 
was submitted, and I favored that proposition, believing it was an act 
of patriotism which it was the duty of the country to perform. On a 
more recent occasion I took the liberty to recommend a similar propo- 
sition to the Legislature of Virginia. Various other movements have 
been made tending to the same object, but I must say that the propo- 
sition of a Southern matron, a daughter of South Carolina, for grandeur 
and beauty is calculated to throw out a lustre which shall radiate from 
the center to the circumference of the Christian world. If any acts 
of mortals on earth can attract the attention of the just made perfect, 
the "Father of his Country" will lay aside his golden harp and smile 
with approbation on the acts of the daughters of the country he loved 
so well. In conclusion, the Governor urged the ladies to go on with the 
good work they had begun. 

Bishop Atkinson was then requested to address the meeting, but 
declined. Major Ellis was also called on. and he likewise declined in a 
few graceful remarks. 

The President then, in the name of the ladies, thanked Mr. Robert 
A. Mayo for the use of the hall. Mr. Mayo replied expressing fullest 
sympathy with the object the ladies had in view, and offered them 
the use of the room on all occasions for the meetings of the association. 



24 

and if necessary the spacious hall above should be placed at their dis- 
posal. Thirty ladies then signed the constitution, and the meeting 
adjourned till the first Tuesday in August. 

In conclusion we are happy to remark that, judging from the 
spirit exhibited by the ladies on this occasion, the best results may be 
anticipated. 

(Editorial from The Richmond Enquirer of July 14, 1854— (W. F. 
Ritchie's paper) — on the foregoing meeting.) 

It is known that the ladies of the South are making an earnest 
effort to raise funds for the purchase of Mount Vernon, the residence 
and resting place of Washington. They appeal only to the generous 
impulses of the patriotic, and so earnest and eloquent has been their 
prayer for aid in their most laudable enterprise that they have already 
collected a large portion of the requisite amount. 

The ladies of Richmond have enlisted in the cause, and on Wed- 
nesday evening they organized an association that adopted a Constitu- 
tion and elected officers with a view to the effectual co-operation with 
their countrywomen of the South. The facility and success with which 
they went through the routine of a public meeting was admirable, and 
the order and decorum which characterized their deliberations would 
have put the male members of Congress to the blush. 

MESSAGE OF GOVERNOR JOHNSON TO LEGISLATURE OF 1855. 

December 3d. 

In my last annual message I recommended the purchase of Mount 
Vernon by the Commonwealth. I should be insensible to the pulsa- 
tions of the public heart, as well as the pulsations of my own feelings, 
if I failed to renew the proposition at this time. The bare allusion to 
the tomb of Washington, with its hallowed shades and sacred relics, 
has awakened a feeling of reverence and patriotism in the American 
bosom, affording unmistakable evidence that not only Virginia, but 
most all of her sister States plead with persuasive eloquence for the 
rescue of the saored domicile from the threatened danger of desecra- 
tion and ruin. 

The amount claimed by the proprietor may be considered exor- 
bitant. In the ordinary transaction of business it might be true, but 
who shall undertake to calculate the value of the homestead and the 
grave of Washington, with its primeval simplicity, or to place an esti- 
mate upon the thousand sacred recollections which crowd the mind 
and cluster around the heart in token of admiration for him whom all 
delight to honor. Dollars become as dust when compared with the 
inestimable patriotism inspired by a visit to the tomb. Thousands will 
repair to this American mecca to pay homage to the illustrious dead. 
But, however ready you may be to purchase and pay for this property, 



25 

that honor has been partially wrested from you, and is reserved for 
the noble purpose of adorning the brow of female philanthropy. The 
Mount Vernon Association of Ladies have been zealously engaged in 
collecting the necessary funds, and it is understood that a considerable 
amount has been already realized. They magnanimously claim the 
honor of paying the purchase money, and with becoming modesty 
request the General Assembly to authorize the purchase in the name 
of the Commonwealth, so that the title may be vested in Virginia, and 
the property be under her control and direction, with an assurance to 
all that the sacred repository of the mighty dead will be forever 
kept from possible pollution. Such an appeal from such a source will 
not be unheeded when addressed to a Virginia Legislature. 

Action of the Legisi^atuke, 1855-6. 

In the House of Delegates, on the 14th of December, 1855, the 
Speaker, O. M. Crutchfield, of Spottsylvania, appointed the following 
Committee on the Purchase of Mount Vernon by the State of Virginia: 

0. M. Langfitt, Brooke & Hancock (now W. Va.), John B. 
Floyd, of Washington (Secretary of War, Buchanan's administra- 
tion); R. C. Stanard, Richmond City (afterwards Circuit Judge); R. M. 
Wiley, Botetourt; John D. Imboden, Augusta (Confederate General) ; 
Felix B. Welton, Hardy County (now W. Va.); Henry J. Samuels, 
Cabell (now W. Va.); Pleasant Howell, Floyd County; W. C. Carper, 
Upshur County (now W. Va.); C. J. F. Craddock, Halifax; Lawrence 
B. Taylor, Alexandria; Robert L. Wright, Loudoun; Edgar J. Spady, 
Northampton. 

A bill was reported January 10, 1856. On the 30th of January it 
was amended by Mr. Langfitt, its patron, and passed March 17th, only 
two votes against it, R. C. Bywaters, of Frederick, and Lawrence B. 
Taylor, of Alexandria. The bill was communicated to the Senate, and 
unanimously passed by that body, on motion of Senator C. R. Harris, 
on the same day. The Act is hereinbefore printed in full. 

Action of the Legislatuke, 1858. 

In the House of Delegates, January 12, 1858, occurred the following: 
On motion of Mr. Chapman, a special committee of five was ap- 
pointed to amend the Act to incorporate the Mount Vernon Ladies' 
Association of the Union, and to authorize the purchase of Mount 
Vernon, passed March 17, 1856, so as the more effectively to carry out 
the object of said Act. The committee was appointed as follows: 

Gen. A. A. Chapman, of Monroe (now W. Va.) ; Joseph R. Anderson, 
Richmond city; Nicholas Fitzhugh, Kanawha (now W. Va.) ; R. A. 
Claybrook, Lancaster and Northumberland; T. T. Fauntleroy, Fred- 
erick. 



26 



In the House of Delegates, March 12, 1858. 

On motion of Mr. Chapman, a special committee of five was ap- 
the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, and to authorize 
the purchase of a part of Mount Vernon, passed in 1856, and for other 
purposes, was taken up. 

Mr. Chapman explained and advocated the bill at length. He stated 
that Mr. John A. Washington, the proprietor of Mount Vernon, had 
absolutely refused to sell that estate, or any portion of it, unless the 
State of Virginia became the purchaser. The bill proposed to issue 
bonds to the amount of $200,000 (the amount asked), redeemable in 
thirty-four years, to Mr. Washington, the money to be paid in the treas- 
ury by the Ladies' Association as soon as collected. They had already 
accumulated $75,000, which would be paid into the treasury at once, 
and the residue would be paid in before the expiration of two years. 
Mr. Chapman then enumerated the various distinguished ladies and 
gentlemen who had devoted themselves to the undertaking of realiz- 
ing a sum sufficient to purchase Mount Vernon, and there was every 
reason to believe that their efforts would be successful. Mr. Everett 
had delivered his Mount Vernon oration about seventy times, and re- 
marked a short time since that he would repeat it seventy more times 
if necessary. He was now repeating the oration as often as three times 
a week, with an average nightly receipt of $1,000. 

Thus, in the course of about a year, the amount yet deficient would 
be raised by Mr. Everett's efforts alone. There could be no doubt that 
the sum of $125,000 could be raised, if faith is to be placed in the 
assurances of the ladies. If so, it will be done, and man with his puny 
arms might as well attempt to "pluck roses from the shrubbery of the 
moon" as to attempt to thwart their resolution. Mr. Chapman next re- 
ferred to the contribution of the Masons. It was proposed that every 
member of that numerous order should contribute $1 towards the fund, 
and responses were coming in from all directions. After an eloquent 
and complimentary allusion to the "Southern Matron" and others en- 
gaged in the enterprise, Mr. Chapman closed his remarks with an ear- 
nest appeal to the House to pass the bill. 

The question of the passage of the bill was then put and deter- 
mined in the negative by the following vote: 

Yeas — Anderson, Bass, Bird, Burwell, Byrne, Carpenter, Chapman, 
Claybrook, Coltrane, Davis, Fitzhugh, Gatewood, Hancock, Haskins, 
Hawks, Massie of R., McCue, Nelson, Porter, Prince, Scott, Seaman, 
Smith, Stalnaker, Sweeny, Thompson, Thornburg, Ward, and Woods — 
29. 

Nays — Alexander, Allen, Arnett, Ball, Barbour, of C, Bogle, Bore- 
man, Bowles, of B., Brown, of P., Caperton, Chase, Christian, Cockerill, 
Cowan, Creel, Dickinson, of P. E.. Dickinson, of G., Garrett, Grant, 



27 

Gregory, Hackley, Hardy, Harper, Heath, Hoge, Howry, Hunter, John- 
son, of T., Jones, of A., Jones, of G., Kaufman, Lynn, Magruder, Martin, 
Martz, Mason, McKay, McKenzie, Miller, Morgan, Nottingham, Osborn. 
Paxton, Powell, of L., Rice, Rives, Rutherfoord, Seddon, Shepard, Spit- 
ler, Tatem, Tomlin, Wilkinson, Ward, Yancey, Yerby — 57. 

Mr. Anderson, when his name was called, stated that, being satis- 
fied that this was the last and only opportunity Virginia would have 
to own and secure Mount Vernon and the grave of Washington, he 
would vote for the bill, though it imposed a debt for all time upon the 
Commonwealth, yet he believed that the amount could be raised and 
paid into the treasury. 

On motion of Mr. Tomlin, the vote rejecting the bill was I'econsid- 
ered. Whereupon Mr. Chapman stated that he would later on offer a 
substitute, a mere act of incorporation, to which there would be no 
objection. 

Subsequently, on the 19th of March, 1858, the Act of that date was 
passed by the two houses of the General Assembly, and is hereinbefore 
given in full. It ought to be stated here that the Legislature of this 
State, which passed the Act of March 19, 1858, incorporating the Ladies' 
Association, and which refused to issue State bonds in aid of the pur- 
chase of Mount Vernon, assembled in December of the preceding year, 
just after the pall of the great panic of 1857 had fallen upon the whole 
land, and financial distress was everywhere to be met, and if financial 
considerations restrained the Legislature in 1854 from purchasing 
Mount Vernon on State account, there were far greater reasons for 
hesitancy in 1858. It is well known that the State of \ irginia, as it 
existed in 1858, was disrupted during the war, and the State of West 
Virginia carved out of it, and that for nearly thirty years after the 
war the old State (as it existed in 1861, less that part erected into a 
State in 1863) was burdened with a very mountain of debt which it 
was impossible to meet, and that this had to be readjusted after the 
lapse of more than a quarter of a century, and reduced in volume by a 
compromise with its creditors. 

The National Monument at Washington, D. C. 

The National Monument in honor of Washington at the National 
Capital, begun in 1848, was finally completed by the United States 
Government, through congressional appropriations, and dedicated Feb- 
ruary 22, 1885, although it was started as a shaft to be erected by the 
voluntary subscriptions of the people of the United States. Because of 
the panic of 1873, the 43d Congress, in 1874. refused to make an appro- 
priation for this work, which was not taken up until the succeeding 
Congress, in 1876. 



28 

First Incorporation- of Women Ever Formed in United States. 

It is believed tliat this association, chartered by a Virginia Legis- 
lature, is the first organization ever formed by women in the United 
States to be managed and controlled by vi^omen, and in confirmation of 
this the Secretary of the association, Mrs. Ward, says in her 1900 report, 
that "New Englanders seriously questioned whether the Mount Vernon 
estate, if the purchase money were raised, could legally be held by 
women." She is referring to a period about forty-five years ago. 

The Title to Mount Vernon. 

It cannot fail to be of great interest to trace the title through the 
successive grants and devises of the Mount Vernon property from the 
first possession of it by the Washington family down to the time when 
it became the property of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, and 
this chain of title shows that it passed from the first grants to the 
last deed directly from the Washington family to the association. 

The following simple and succinct account does this with facility 
and satisfaction: 

1st. Grant from Ijord Culpeper to Nicholas Spenser and John Wash- 
ington, 1674. 

2d. Grant from George H. Jeffreys to Nicholas Spenser and John 
Washington, 1679, for 5,000 acres of land — on record in Land Office of 
Virginia, at Richmond 

3d. Will of John, Washington, 1686, devised his share of above land 
to his son, Lawrence Washington — on record in Westmoreland. 

4th. A division of above land (5,000 acres) between Spenser and 
Washington, 1690, on record in Stafford. His son, Augustine Wash- 
ington, was in possession of one-half of the above 5,000 acres in 1740. 
In 1892, Lawrence Washington, of Virginia, the eldest son of John 
A. Washington, who sold Mount Vernon to the association, donated to 
the association the "Survey and Division between Spenser and Wash- 
ington, September and December, 1690." This was the endorsement 
upon it and in the handwriting of George Washington. This document 
states the terms of division of the original 5,000 acres purchased in 
1679 by John Washington and Nicholas Spenser, and shows a rough 
plat of that tract, subsequently called Mount Vernon. 

5th. Deed from Augustine Washington conveying said 2,500 acres 
to his son, Lawrence Washington — recorded at a session of the General 
Court of Virginia, held at the capital, October 28, 1740. 

6th. Will of Augustine Washington, confirming the above deed of 
1740 — on record in King George, May, 1743. 

7th. Will of Lawrence Washington, made in 1752, devising said 
2,500 acres (called by him Mount Vernon) to George Washington. 

The will of Lawrence Washington, which was probated in Fairfax, 
September 26, 1752, contains the following: 




I. Lawrence Washington, flevised Mount Vernon to (leorge "Wash- 
ington. II. Bushrod Washington, to whom George Washington 
devised Mount Vernon. III. John A. Washington, who sold Mount 
Vernon to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Asso(dation of tlie Union. 

IV. Washington Irving, of N. Y., next to Edward Everett, the 
largest individual subscriber to the Mount Vernon Purchase Fund. 

V. Washington Coat-of-Arnis in centre. 



29 

"Item. My will and devise is that my loving wife have the use, 
benefit, and profits of all my lands on Little Hunting and Dogue Creeks, 
in the parish Truro, and County of Fairfax, with all the houses and 
edifices thereon during her natural life. * * * i give and bequeath 
unto my loving brother, George Washington and his heirs forever, after 
the decease of my wife, all my lands in Fairfax county, with its im- 
provements thereon; and further, it is my will and desire that during 
the natural life of my wife that my said trustee, George, shall have 
the use of an equal share and proportion of all the lands hereafter given 
and devised unto my brothers, Samuel, John and Charles." 

These items were subsequent to another provision in his will, giv- 
ing this property to his daughter, Sarah, and her heirs, but in case 
of her death without issue, then the foregoing provisions of his will 
became operative. Sarah died when two years old, and after the death 
of her father, Lawrence Washington. 

8th. Will of George Washington, bequeathing Mount Vernon and 
about 4,000 acres to his nephew, Bushrod Washington — on record about 
1800, in Fairfax. 

9th. Will of Bushrod Washington, devising Mount Vernon and the 
lands (by old survey, amounting to 1,225 acres) to his nephew, John. 
A. Washington — on record, in Fairfax, 1829 or 1830. 

10th. Will of John A. Washington, conveying all his property to 
his wife, Jane C. Washington, during her widowhood, with the power 
to devise it as she pleased among his children — on record in Jefferson 
County (now West Virginia), 1832. 

11th. Deed from Mrs. Jane C. Washington, widow of John A. Wash- 
ington, to her late husband's oldest son, John A. Washington, convey- 
ing to him (under the power of appointment given her by her hus- 
band's will) Mount Vernon and 1,225 acres attached to it — on record, in 
Fairfax, 1850. 

12th. The will of Mrs. Jane C. Washington, widow of John A. Wash- 
ington, devising Mount Vernon to her husband's aforesaid son, John 
A. Washington (the proprietor, who sold Mount Vernon to the Ladies* 
Association of Mount Vernon), and thus confirming the deed she had 
already made to him — on record in Jefferson County (now West Vir- 
ginia), 1855. 

13th. Contract between John A. Washington and the Mount Vernon 
Ladies' Association of the Union for the purchase of 202 acres of the 
above land — on record, in Fairfax, April 6, 1858. 

14th. A deed, dated the 12th day of November, 1868, made in pur- 
suance of the contract previously recited, W. A. Taylor, commissioner, 
and the heirs of John A. Washington, conveying to the Mount Vernon 
Ladies' Association the Mount Vernon buildings and the tombs, with 
202 acres of land. 

15th. Deed of the 23d of July, 1887, Jay Gould and wife conveyed 



30 

to the association an adjoining parcel of 33 1^ acres. This land was 
a part of the original Mount Vernon estate, and was conveyed to Jay 
Gould by a deed from Lawrence Washington and wife simultaneously. 
with the execution of the deed of Gould and wife to the Mount Vernon 
Association. Lawrence Washington was a son of .Tohn A. Washington, 
and, no doubt, inherited this tract from his father, who sold the other 
202 acres to the Mount Vernon Association. Jay Gould paid $2,500 for 
this tract. 

The first mention of Westmoreland is in an Act of the Virginia 
Assembly of 1653. Westmoreland was taken from Northumberland, 
which county was established in 1648. 

King George was formed from Richmond county, in 1720. 

Stafford was formed in 1675 from Westmoreland. 

Fairfax was formed in 1742 from Prince William, and Prince Wil- 
liam was formed in 1730 from Stafford and King George. 

The following, which bears upon the title and relating to the occu- 
pancy of Mount Vernon, was written by the late Dr. J. M. Toner, of 
Washington, who at the time of his death was one of the association's 
advisory members: 

THE HOME OF WASHINGTON. 

How Ge.xek.^l Wa.shixgtox Came Into Possession — The Mount Ver- 
non Association. 
"The chain of the title to this famous estate shows that it has 
always been in the possession of the Washingtons, descending by will 
or inheritance, from the grant of Lord Culpeper, 1670, to the time it 
was sold to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, on April 
6, 1858. It is of record in the early land records of the colony of Vir- 
ginia that in 1670 a tract of land on the Potomac river, above JDogue 
river, in which Mount Vernon is embraced, containing 5,000 acres, was 
patented jointly to John Washington, of Westmoreland County, Va., 
(great-grandfather of the illustrious George Washington), and Nicho- 
las Spenser; was surveyed for them under a warrant from Lord Cul- 
peper, proprietor of the Northern Neck of Virginia. In the division of 
this tract shortly after, 2,500 acres, lying between Dogue Run and 
Little Hunting Creek, was assigned to John Washington under the 
name of 'Hunting Creek plantation.' John Washington died in Janu- 
ary, 1677. His will, dated February 26, 1675, was proven January 10. 
1677. In his will, he left this place to his son, Lawrence, who had 
some improvements made upon it, and at his death he bequeathed it 
to his son, Augustine, father of the General. Augustine Washington 
cultivated and further improved his 'Hunting Creek plantation,' and in 
the division of his estate left it by will to his eldest son, Major Law- 
rence Washington, who married Anne, the oldest daughter of the Hon. 
William Fairfax, of Belvoir, Fairfax County, Va. Major Lawrence 



31 

Washington improved the estate and built the middle portion > (four 
rooms of the present mansion), giviag the name Mount Vernon to the 
estate. His portrait hangs in the room assigned to West Virgiuia, at 
Mount Vernon. Between Lawrence Washington and his half-brother. 
George, there was a remarkable attachment and congeniality of tastes, 
notwithstanding the disparity of fourteen years in their age. 

Major Lawrence Washington was an accomplished gentleman, and 
received a good education, and was one of the far-seeing business men 
of his day, as was his father before him. He was largely interested in 
the manufacture of iron, both in Virginia and Maryland; was one 
of the originators of the Ohio Company, and at the time of his death 
its president. He had served several terms in the House of Burgesses, 
and was Adjutant-General, with the rank of Major, of the Northern 
District of Virginia, under regular salary. He had George with him 
whenever it was practicable, and did much to advance his (George's) 
interests and develop his manly character. 

Lawrence Washington. 

Lawrence Washington died at Mount Vernon July 26, 1752, aged 
34 years, and his remains rest in the great vault behind those of 
George Washington. In his will, after making ample provision for his 
wife and his infant child, Sarah, the only living child during their 
lives, he stated that in the event of the death of his child (to whom 
Mount Vernon was left), without issue, that then the Mount Vernon 
estate should become the property of his brother, George Washington. 
His will bears date June 20, 1752, and was proved in court September 
26, 1752, George being named as one of the executors. The child, 
Sarah, died shortly after its father. 

George Washington, therefoi-e, inherited under his half-brother's 
will, the Mount Vernon estate, in 1753, before he was 21 years of age. 
liawrence Washington's widow married Col. George Lee, uncle of 
Arthur and Richard Henry Lee, patriots of the Revolution. George 
Washington was unable to give, however, supervision to his Mount 
Vernon estate until after the fall of Fort Duquesne and the driving of 
the French out of the Ohio region, as his military duties engrossed 
most of his time, but after his marriage, January 6, 1759, he resided 
there and gave closest attention to the improvement of his estate, and 
all his other landed interests in the Shenandoah region and the Ohio 
Valley. He brought Mount Vernon to be one of the best cultivated 
and most highly improved plantations in Virginia, and added largely 
to its bounds until it embraced ten thousand acres, and had a river 
frontage of ten miles. He enlarged the mansion house, and repaired 
or erected new out-buildings, and kept the whole estate in every particu- 
lar all in flrst-class condition. The natural yielding of the soil of thia 
plantation was never first-class; indeed, it is surprising that so good 



32 

a farmer and judge of productive lauds could have reconciled him- 
self to cultivate them to the extent he did, as lands in the Valley 
of Virginia and on the Ohio river were vastly more productive than 
those on the Potomac river, but George Washington seems never to 
have faltered in his love for his Mount Vernon home, although he was 
aware that no profit came from its cultivation, yet he preferred it to 
any other place. Its associations were dear to him, and he had great 
attachments for his friends and the planters who resided in the vicinity, 
and who frequently visited him. and whose calls he returned. 
****** 

As the years rolled by his fame, as a general and a statesman, was 
not confined to his county and State, or, indeed, to his country, but 
was worldwide, and Mount Vernon, after the Revolution and the pro- 
prietor's retirement from the Presidency of the United States, was fre- 
quently visited by eminent people in the various professions and walks 
of life, to pay their respects to the founder of the American Republic. 
They were always received in the most courteous manner and hospita- 
bly entertained. George Washington, notwithstanding his long public 
service, and the expensive administrative establishment he maintained, 
accumulated a considerable fortune for the period in which he lived. 
It was varied in character, and widely distributed as to locality, but 
he had scheduled it with care, and estimated its approximate market 
value, as may be seen in his published will. He having had no chil- 
dren born to him to inherit his property, and being mindful that life 
was uncertain, and that it was a duty to dispose of the goods which 
Providence had entrusted him with, in as judicious manner as possible 
for the benefit of those next of kin, he prepared a will, which he wrote 
with his own hand, and in which he made specific disposition of his 
whole estate. 

How George Wa.shixgton Di.sposeu of Mount Vernon. 

The clause of his will referring to and disposing of the mansion 
house and Mount Vernon estate properties is in the following words: 
'To my nephew, Bushrod Washing;ton. and his heirs (partly in con- 
sideration of an intimation to his deceased father while we were bache- 
lors, and he had kindly undertaken to superintend my estate during my 
military services in the war with Great Britain and France, that if I 
fall therein, Mount Vernon, then less extensive in domain than at 
present, should become his property), I give and bequeath all that part 
thereof which is comprehended within certain limits, and containing 
upwards of 4,000 acres, be the same more or less, together with the 
mansion house and all other buildings and improvements thereon.' 
Bu.siiROD Wasiiingtox's Ownership Under the Will. 

Bushrod Washington, who inherited Mount Vernon from his uncle, 
George Washington, was the third child of John A. Washington and his 



33 

wife, Hannah, daughter of Col. J. Bush, of Westmoreland County, Va. 
He came into full possession of the estate after the demise of Mrs. 
Martha Washington, widow of the General, which occurred May 21, 
1802. 

Judge Washington was a Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
United States, appointed by John Adams, and resided at Mount Vernon, 
dispensing liberal hospitality and keeping intact his inherited landed 
estate to the date of his death. He was married in 1785 to Anna, 
daughter of Col. Thomas Blackburn, of Rippon Lodge, Prince William 
County, Va. They had no children. He made a will, and, following the 
example of his illustrious uncle, he provided for his wife during her 
life, and then disposed of his estate to his nephew and niece, giving 
specific directions and leaving the mansion house and Mount Vernon 
farm property, with restricted bounds, which he specifically defined, to 
his nephew, John A. Washington. The clause in his will making this 
devise is in the following language: 

'After the death of my said wife, I give to my nephew, John A. 
Washington, and to his heirs, all that part of my Mount Vernon land in- 
cluded within certain boundaries, * * * to my nephew, after the death of 
my said wife, all the furniture belonging, and which at the time of my 
death may belong to and be in the mansion house, kitchen, and other 
houses (not before given to my wife), in which bequest, to avoid dis- 
tribution, I mean to include not only the standing furniture, but also 
all the silver and plated ware, cut and other glass, pictures, prints, 
table and bed furniture, and, in short, everything used and generally 
considered as furniture.' 

John A. Washington. 

John A. Washington was the son and third child of Corbin Wash- 
ington, and his wife, Hannah, daughter of Hon. Richard H. Lee, of 
Chantilly, Westmoreland County, Va. He was born in 1792; in 1814 
he married Jane Charlotte, daughter of Major Richard Scott Blackburn, 
of the United States Army. He came into possession of the Mount 
Vernon estate almost immediately after the death of his uncle, as his 
aunt died in two days after the Judge, who resided at the time on an 
estate called 'Blakely,' in Jefferson County (now West Virginia). 
Augustine Washington had made a will in September, 1832, leaving all 
his property, real and personal, to his wife during her widowhood, and 
to divide his estate among their children as she might deem proper. 
To his will, on the 8th of July, 1830, he added a codicil, he having in 
the meantime received the devise of the Mount Vernon estate from his 
uncle, and provided for its sale to the United States, should Congress 
desire to possess it. He died on June 16, 1832, aged 48, and his will 
was proved in court in Jefferson County, July 16, 1832. In the distri- 
bution of his estate. Mount Vernon was conveyed to his third child. 



34 

John A. Washington, who became of age in 1841. He married, in 1842, 
Eleanor Love, daughter of Nelson Carey Selden, of Loudoun County, 
Va., and took up his residence at Mount Vernon, and resided there until 
he sold the mansion house and farm of 200 acres, including the wharf 
and tombs of "Washington, to the Ladies' Mount Vernon Association of 
the Union, April 6, 1858." 

The Mansion, Buildings, and Gkounds at Mount Vernon. 

The mansion at Mount Vernon is located on an elevation overlook- 
ing the Potomac. It is of wood, painted to resemble stone. It is made 
up of three stories, and is 96x47 feet. Along its front is a broad 
piazza, 25 feet in height, with square pillars. Fronting the mansion 
are shaded lawns and below is the deer park. In the rear are lawns, 
gardens, and orchards. About 150 acres are in woodland. The deer 
park occupies about 20 acres, and in it are more than 30 deer. Farm- 
ing operations are conducted on a moderate scale, about 70 acres being 
available for farming purposes. There are about 236 acres belonging 
to the association. The deer park was restored in 1887 by the munifi- 
cent gift of the sons of Mrs. Robert Campbell, a Vice-Regent from Mis- 
souri, who died in 1882. The charter of the association limits its hold- 
ing of land to 200 acres. 

The mansion is now thus divided and assigned to the different 
States : 

First Floor. 

Massachusetts has the library-room. Georgia has Mrs. Washing- 
ton's sitting-room. There is a small closet next to the library unas- 
signed. The main hall is assigned to Alabama. South Carolina has 
the dining-room. Ohio has Miss Custis's music-room. Illinois has the 
west parlor, and New York has the banquet hall. 

Second Floor. 

The room in which Washington died is assigned to Virginia, and 
is immediately under the room on the third floor in which Mrs. Wash- 
ington died. It is admirably cared for by Virginia's Vice-Regent. 
Each of the other rooms, under the loving care of the Vice-Regents, 
respectively, is so well appointed and cared for that further special 
mention seems uncalled for. Other rooms on this floor are assigned as 
follows: That to West Virginia is known as the "green-room"; that to 
Maryland is known as Miss Custis's room; that to Delaware is known 
as the guest-chamber; that to New Jersey is known as Lafayette's 
room; the room overlooking the river and known as the river-room is 
assigned to Pennsylvania. 

Third Floor. 

The room on the third floor, in which Mrs. Washington died, at 
the end of the house, looking down the river, is assigned to Wisconsin. 




Born February 22, 1732 ; died December 14, 1799. 



35 

The room just across the hall from this is assigned to Florida. The 
room adjoining this, to the District of Columbia. The two rooms just 
across the main hall are assigned to North Carolina and Connecticut, 
Connecticut having the room overlooking the river. Maine has a small 
room just back of the North Carolina room. Small room, or closet, 
back of Connecticut's room, unassigned, and closed to visitors. Small 
room right across main hall, looking to the rear, is known as the linen 
room, and is unassigned. Other rooms on this floor are known as 
spare rooms, and are unassigned. 

In 1875 the Council voted "that each of the old thirteen States fur- 
nishing a room should be permitted to place its coat-of-arms over the 
door of such room, and that the other States may have their coat-of- 
arms hung in the Martha Washington sitting-room." 

There are nineteen rooms in the house, and four or five closets, or 
small rooms. The spinning-room in the back yard was restored by the 
school children of St. Paul, Minn., and is known as the Minnesota room. 
The summer house was restored by school children of Louisiana; the 
old quarters in the field were restored by Wisconsin. The wharf and 
sea wall were restored by Mrs. Hearst, the California Vice-Regent. The 
kitchen and furniture were restored by the Regent, Mrs. Townsend, of 
New York. The back walk by Pennsylvania. 

There are in all about thirty buildings on the Mount Vernon land, 
as follows: The mansion, office, kitchen, butler's house, carpenter shop, 
spinning house, smoke house, wagon shed, summer house, spring house, 
milk house, shelter house in deer park, servants' quarters — 2 houses, 
three greenhouses, laundry, coach house, north gate — 2 lodge houses, 
pavilion on wharf for passengers, three cabins for employees, west 
gate — 2 lodge houses, barn. 

The new greenhouse was given by Mrs. Mitchell, of Wisconsin, the 
oldest Vice-Regent, appointed in 1858. 

The Council has taken the wise precaution to insure most of these 
buildings, as well as every reasonable means to prevent fire, but of 
course no money consideration could compensate for the loss of the 
mansion or other buildings that were at Mount Vernon in Washing- 
ton's day. Their value is not regulated by any ordinary estimate, but 
to be measured, if at all, by the highest value of the law of pretium 
affectionis. 

In her 1900 report, Mrs. Townsend, the Regent, says, among other 
things: 

"As a safe-guard against the danger of fire, the association has 
introduced a hot water plant not liable to explosions, no overheating 
or charring of woodwork. It is a pronounced success and of unspeak- 
able comfort to all of the cabins on the estate. Its feature of intrinsic 
value is its drying power. No amount of furnace or of fires hitherto 
has conquered the humidity of the cellar and foundation walls. This 



36 

humidity was gradually destroying the brick walls and rotting the 
beams. This is now overcome. Another improvement is the artesian 
well. At first it seemed a doubtful experiment, and caused no little 
anxiety, but after great expense in the different efforts and methods, 
sufficient pure drinkable water was finally obtained. * * * Another 
beautiful feature of Mount Vernon is the gateway at the railroad 
entrance, so colonial and in keeping with all the architecture of the 
estate that it forms a charming addition to the entrance to the home 
of Washington. The Vice-Regent for Texas should be congratulated 
upon her signal success in so judiciously expending the money contrib- 
uted in that State in a structure so much in harmony with its sur- 
roundings. 

Mrs. Thomas S. Maxey, the Texas Vice-Regent, was only appointed 
at the Council of 1896. 

The whole of the Mount Vernon grounds are enclosed by suitable 
fences. 

Mount Vernon was the home of George Washington and Martha, 
his wife, for more than forty of the sixty-seven years of his life. Here 
they are entombed. Of Martha, these lines from Weem's Life of WasJi- 
ington seem very appropriate: 

" Custis's widow, great George's wife. 
Virtuous, fair and good is she; 
Christ shall launch a dart at thee." 

The New Tomb. 

The bodies of both are in the new tomb, and ai'e buried side by 
side, a plain structure of brick, to which they were removed from 
the old tomb in 1831. In the ante-chamber are two sarcophagi, the one 
on the right is Washington's, the other is over the remains of Martha, 
his wife, who died May 21, 1802. It bears the simple inscription, 
"Martha, consort of Washington, aged 71." Within this new tomb are 
the remains of many of the families of the Washington, Custis, and re- 
lated families. Near the tomb is a monument to Bushrod Washington, 
who is interred in the new tomb. The remains of Lawrence Wash- 
ington, who devised Mount Vernon to George Washington, and those 
of Lawrence's wife, are within the new tomb. 

In 1891, in order to diminish the dampness of the new tomb, the 
back wall of it was cut into and a heavy iron grating securely inserted. 
This was done at the suggestion of the late Mrs. Ella Bassett Wash- 
ington, the then Vice-Regent from West Virginia. 

The new tomb (interior and exterior) is frequently decorated, nota- 
bly on such days as the 22d of February, occasionally at Easter, the 
30th of May (Decoration day), the 4th of July, and December 14th, 
in observance of the day of Washington's death, on which occasions the 




Martha, the amiable, beloved wife of Greorge Washington, buried by 
his side at Mount Vernon. Died May 21, 1802, aged 72 years. 



37 

National flag is draped over the front of the tomb and about the bases 
of the marble sarcophagi, and many plants and flowers are placed 
without and within the new tomb. 

For fifty years or more, certainly before the ownership by John A. 
Washington of Mount Vernon was transferred to The Mount Vernon 
Asociation of the Union, the passing steamers observed their prox- 
imity to Mount Vernon and its tombs by the tolling of their bells. That 
beautiful custom continues to this day. On the 14th of Deecmber, 1899, 
the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Virginia, 
Judge R. T. W. Duke, Grand Master, observed with appropriate Masonic 
ceremonies at the old and new tombs and in front of the mansion at 
Mount Vernon the Centennial of the death of Washington, who was a 
member of the Masonic order for more than forty-six years of his life. 
The late President of the United States, himself a Mason, together with 
several members of his Cabinet, and representative Masons from all sec- 
tions of the Union, were present, the President making an address 
suitable to the occasion. 

The Old Tomb. 

There are no bodies in the old tomb, all having been removed from 
it in 1831 to the new tomb. It was in this tomb that the remains of 
Washington and his wife were deposited at their deaths. 

In regard to the old tomb, in the proceedings of 1887, Mrs. Rath- 
bone, the Vice-Regent from Michigan, reports as follows: 

"That the work on the old tomb has been completed in a satisfac- 
tory manner. Research was made to obtain accurate information 
regarding the original tomb and the restoration has been made so as 
to reproduce a fac simile of the tomb in which Washington's remains 
rested for more than thirty-one years. Both tombs are in excellent con- 
dition." 

Restoratioivs and Donations. 

In Washington's time there was a sun dial at Mount Vernon, on 
the lawn in the rear of the mansion. This, in the lapse of time, disap- 
peared, and for a long time there was no sun dial there. On the 17th 
of October, 1888, however, the citizens of Rhode Island, through Mrs. 
Chace, its then Vice-Regent, restored the sun dial, and it is believed to 
be placed on the very spot where the sun dial of Washington's day 
stood. 

Mrs. Chace served as Vice-Regent from Rhode Island from 1858 
until her death, in 1892, and it is due, no doubt, largely to her efforts 
that the per capita contribution of Rhode Island to the purchase of 
Mount Vernon was the third largest of any State in the Union. 

Other restorations are the summer house, on the brow of the hill 
south of the mansion, a fac simile of the original, with its cooling 



38 

vault below and a bell in the cupola. This was the work of Mrs. Rich- 
ardson, Vice-Regent of Louisiana. 

The restoration of 1890 of the old servants quarters by Mrs. Ward, 
the Kansas Vice-Regent, completed the buildings that were at Mount 
Vernon in Washington's day. Mrs. Hearst, of California, built the 
pavilion on the wharf, and donated the telephone line between Wash- 
ington, D. C, and Mount Vernon. Mrs. Hearst also donated $2,500 in 
cash last year to the Mount Vernon Association. Mrs. Hearst also built 
the sea wall along the water front. 

Relics. 

In the Mount Vernon mansion of to-day, and in nearly every room, 
and on the grounds, are very many valuable and historic relics, nearly 
all obtained during the life of this association, and most of them were 
donations. The library has many books of Washington's day, though 
Washington's library is the property of the Boston Athaeneum. 

Among the relics is the/key to the Bastile, sent by Lafayette to 
Washington, after the destruction of the prison; with it came a model 
of the Bastile. 

Fac simile of Lafayette's agreement to serve in the American Army 
with rank of Major-General. The contract was made with Silas Dean, 
in Paris, in 1776. 

Three of Washington's swords; among them the dress sword. 

A portrait of Admiral Vernon, after whom Mount Vernon was 
named. 

Brick from the chimney of Washington's birth-place. 

Harpsichord imported from London, cost $1,000; bridal present 
from Washington to Nellie Custis; presented to the association in 1860 
by Mrs. Lorenzo Lewis. 

Card table on which Washington and Lafayette played whist. 

Houdon's mask of Washington. 

Silver heel of slipper worn by Martha Washington. 

Blue and gold dishes — part of a dessert set — given by Lafayette. 

Lock of Washington's hair. 

Photograph of Uzal Knapp. last survivor of Washington's life- 
guard; born at Stafford, Conn., 1758; died 1856; buried before Wash- 
ington's headquarters at Newburgh, N. Y. 

The Washington family arms. 

Globe and several chairs that belonged to Washington. 

Portrait of Louis XVL 

Carpet that was made by order of Louis XVI. for Washington. 
Washington was not permitted to receive presents from foreign powers; 
it was bought and presented to the Regents in 1897. 

Antique silver inkstand, with silver snuffers and tray. 



39 

A printed copy of "Washington's farewell address; contributed by- 
George Washington Childs. 

Copies of Stuart's portrait of George and Martha Washington; 
originals owned by Boston Athseneum; painted from life in 1795. 

Handsome side-board of Washington's; presented by Mrs. R. E. 
Lee. 

Bust of Washington, with the jewel of the grand master of Masons. 

Portraits in oil of Generals Moultrie, Pickens, Marion, Baron de 
Kalb and Sumter. 

A mirror used in the Philadelphia house occupied by Washington 
while President. 

A framed copy of the Washington pedigree. 

Engraving of Savage's "Washington family." 

Martha Washington's fan, carved and painted, and parts of dresses 
worn by her. 

Equestrian portrait of Washington before Yorktown and his staff, 
Hamilton, Knox, Lincoln, Lafayette and Rochambeau. 

Photograph copy of a pastel, showing Nellie Custis when a girl. 

Letters written by George and Martha Washington to Nellie Custis 
and her husband, Lawrence Lewis. 

Silken banner with the arms of Great Britain; presented by Gen- 
eral U. S. Grant. 

Needle-case made from material of a dress worn by Mrs. Washing- 
ton at the last Presidential levee in Philadelphia. 

Folding wash-stand that came from the home of Chas. Carroll, of 
Carrollton, Maryland. 

Portraits of George and Martha Washington; William Pitt and 
Baron Steuben. 

Mahogany chair which belonged to Franklin. 

In one of the window-panes, more than a hundred years ago, Eliza 
Custis, one of Mrs. Washington's grandchildren, cut with a diamond 
her name and date, August 2, 1792, and there it is to-day. 

Of the trees near the new tomb, an elm was planted in 1876 by Dom 
Pedro, Emperor of Brazil, and a British oak, planted on request of the 
Prince of Wales, to replace a horse-chestnut planted by the Prince of 
Wales, now King Edward VII. of Great Britain, on his visit to Mount 
Vernon in 1860. 

Kentucky coffee-tree and four strawberry shrubs, or calacanthi, 
sent to Washington by Jefferson from Monticello. John Augustine 
Washington named the shrubs after Presidents Adams, Jefferson, Madi- 
son and Monroe. 

Hydrange and shrub magnolia, planted by Lafayette, in 1824. 

At the foot of the garden is the famous Martha Washington rose, 
named by Washington for his mother. 



40 

A willow which came from Napoleon's grave at St. Helena. 

In the coach house is a duplicate of Washington's coach, which is 
said to have been used by him. 

A portrait of Tobias Lear, secretary to Washington, and who was 
serving him in that capacity at the time of his death, December 14, 
1799, and was at the bedside of Washington when he died. 

The bedstead on which Washington died is there. It was loaned to 
the association by G. W. Custis Lee. 

The foregoing is but a very meagre list of the great number of 
the mementoes of the past at Mount Vernon. 

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE MOUNT VERNON LADIES' ASSOCIATION. 

The organization of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of 
the Union came about in this way. It seems that Miss Ann 
Pamela Cuningham's first appeal for funds to purchase Mount 
Vernon was issued in South Carolina, December 3, 1853, and 
that contemporaneously therewith, as appears from what is herein- 
before recited, Governor Johnson, in a message to the Legislature, 
December 3, 1853, urged the purchase of Mount Vernon by the State. 
The proposition to purchase Mount Vernon by the State failed at 
the session of 1853-54, as is hereinbefore set forth. On the 22d 
of February, 1854, the first public meeting to raise funds to purchase 
Mount Vernon was held in Laurens, South Carolina (Miss Cuningham's 
home town). At this meeting $293.75 was raised. The next organized 
meeting for this purpose seems to have been held at Richmond, July 
12, 1854. Appeals were then sent out for funds. As early as Novem- 
ber, 1854, Miss Cuningham, under her own signature, wrote to the 
Richmond organization that she was opposed to the purchase of Mount 
Vernon either by the State or nation, and she urged the Richmond 
association to form a central committee of the Union, in order to raise 
funds. This the Richmond Ladies' Association promptly did, at Miss 
Cuningham's request. In this form the organization drifted along until 
the Act of the Virginia Legislature of March 17, 1856. Very shortly 
thereafter the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union was 
formed, and with that title, as prescribed in that Act; Miss Cuning- 
ham was the first President, and Mrs. Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie the 
first Vice-President. The Richmond Enquirer, when this Act was 
passed, referring to the title of the association, namely, "The Mount 
Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union," said: "We like that from 
Virginia, from the heart of the Old Dominion." Mr. William F. Ritchie, 
be it said, as the husband of Mrs. Ritchie, lent valuable aid as an 
individual, and through the columns of the Richmond Enquirer, of 
which he was the editor, towards securing the success of the associa- 
tion in its efforts for the purchase of Mount Vernon. 

The raising of funds, however, moved very slowly, for in August, 



41 

1857, Mrs. Susan L. Pellet, of Richmond, Va., the then and always effi- 
cient Corresponding Secretary of the association, reported that up to 
that time 

South Carolina had raised $2,454 55 

Virginia 2.324 83 

Alabama I'O^S 57 

Pennsylvania 943 00 

In all ?6,800 95 

The Virginia contribution, however, did not include some $1,100 
which Mr. Everett's oration had. realized. In the following winter, 
however, the fund had grown to some $50,000 or $75,000. Mr. Everett 
was then writing and speaking to raise money to help forward the pur- 
chase. 

The Act of March 19, 1858, is that under which the association now 
lives, moves and has its being. The Constitution and By-Laws, which 
were made a condition precedent to the taking effect of the Act of 
March 17, 1856, were prepared by Messrs. James L. Pettigru and Rich- 
ard Yeadon, distinguished lawyers of Charleston, S. C. The associa- 
tion immediately became organized January 5, 1858, and as so legally 
organized was chartered by the Act of March 19, 1858. I say became 
legally organized January 5, 1858, because on that day Governor Henry 
A. Wise approved the Constitution and By-Laws of the association, 
which the Act of March, 1856, required to be prepared, approved and 
deposited with the Secretary of the Commonwealth, before the associa- 
tion could legally exist. Theretofore it had existed as a mere volun- 
tary association. 

Ann Pamela Cuningham was the first Regent of the association, 
and Mrs. W. P. Ritchie the first Vice-Regent. 

December 9, 1858, Anna Cora Ritchie issued an eloquent appeal for 
funds as first Vice-Regent of the association. 

The only Vice-Regents now connected with the association who 
served with the founder' and first Regent are Mrs. Martha Mitchell, of 
Wisconsin, appointed in 1858; Mrs. Letitia Harper Walker, North Car- 
olina, 1859; Mrs. Margaret J. M. Sweat, of Maine, appointed in 1860— 
Mrs. Sweat, it is proper to say. was Secretary of the Maine Mount Ver- 
non Association, as the records show, as far back as 1858; Mrs. Susan 
E. Johnson Hudson, of Connecticut, appointed in 1870; and Mrs. Mary 
T. Barnes, of the District of Columbia, appointed in 1872. 

Mrs. Susan L. Pellet, of Richmond, was the first Secretary of this 
association, as Mrs. Ritchie was the first Vice-Regent. The Record 
Committee of the Mount Vernon Association, in their 1896 report, pay 
her memory this tribute: 

"It is due to the memory of Mrs. Pellet, the first Secretary of the 
association, that we bear witness to her energy, industry, patience, as 



42 

well as to her delightful style in her chronicle of trials and discourage- 
ments that her letters show in every line. We can but regret that only 
so brief a record has been preserved." 

Mrs. Pellet was born in Lynn. Massachusetts, February, 1808, and 
lived to the age of 85, dying July 18, 1893. She was a Sunday-school 
teacher to the time of her death. Her husband was Dr. Gordon Pellet, 
of North Brookfleld, Mass. Mrs. Pellet's maiden name was Gardner. 
At the death of Dr. Pellet, in 1838, Mrs. Pellet removed to Richmond, 
and for many years conducted a large school for ladies. Miss Cuning- 
ham, when visiting Richmond, was usually the guest of Mrs. Pellet. 
Mrs. Pellet, like Miss Guningham, was a member of the Presbyterian 
Church. This statement, of Miss Ann Pamela Guningham, is included 
in the proceedings of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association held in 
Washington, on Monday the 19th of November, 1866. Miss Guning- 
ham says: 

"The beautiful thought that woman should rescue Mount Vernon 
from the hands of speculators emanated from my mother." 

Mother of Ann P. Guningham. 

Mrs. Louisa Guningham, nee Bird, daughter of William Bird, of 
Birdsboro, Pa., and the mother of Ann Pamela Guningham, was born 
in Alexandria, V,a., May 16, 1794, and was married to Robert Guning- 
ham. the father of Ann Pamela Guningham, about the year 1810. 
Mrs. Guningham died October 6, 1873, in the 79th year of her age. 
On the death of Mrs. Guningham, in 1873, as of Miss Ann Pamela 
Guningham May 1, 1875, the succeeding Gouncils of Regents passed 
resolutions of regret and respect. Two of the aunts of Mrs. Louisa 
Guningham and the first Regent's mother, married distinguished 
Pennsylvanians, one being married to James Wilson, who signed the 
Declaration of Independence, and who was appointed by Washington a 
Justice of the United States Supreme Gourt, and the other was married 
to George Ross, of Pennsylvania, also a signer of the Declaration of 
Independence. 

William Bird, Sr., the paternal great-grandfather of Miss Ann 
Pamela Guningham, founded the town of Birdsboro, Berks Gounty, 
Pa., in 1750, and in 1751 he erected within the limits of the town-place 
a fine two-story cut-stone house. This building, which was his home, 
is still standing, and has the date 1751 on it. It is now "The Birds- 
boro House," or Hotel. 

John Dalton and Thomas Shaw, grandfather and great-grandfather 
of Ann Pamela Guningham, through her mother, were each vestrymen 
of Old Ghrist Ghurch of Alexandria at the same time that George 
Washington was a vestryman. 




Old Pohick Church. 
Made from a half-tone in Alexandria, Va., Gazette of September 11, 

Is probably just the front appearance of the (Jhiircli, as it was in 
Wasiiiimtoirs daA\ 



43 

Washington's Chirches. 

Pohick Church.— Pohick, in Truro Parish, is and always has been 
the parish church of Mount Vernon. It is five miles from the mansion; 
was built in the years 1768-70 frpm plans drawn by General Washing- 
ton, a member of the building committee. Washington was a vestry- 
man of the parish for twenty years, and for the greater part of that 
time was a regular attendant at church, never permitting, as Bishop 
Meade says, "the weather or company to keep him from church." 

Christ Church, Alexandria.— The four walls, the sides, and the rear 
of Old Christ Church, Alexandria, are no doubt just as they were in 
1773, but the addition of the tower and cupola in 1818 changed the 
appearance of the front. It is believed that the half-tone printed in 
this report represents the front and sides of the church as they respec- 
tively are shown on Columbus and Cameron Streets, as they existed 
before the tower and cupola were built. The church was begun in 1767 
and completed in 1773. Washington was one of the first to buy a pew. 
and was one of the first vestrymen chosen. Christ Church was so first 
named in 1813. Its names in Washington's day were "The Lower 
Church" and "The Chapel of Base," in Fairfax Parish. When called 
Christ Church it was then known as "the old Episcopal Church." This 
statement is contained in a Centennial sermon preached by the rector 
of the church in 1873, and published by the authorities of the church. 
Mr. Lawrence Washington, a son of John A. Washington, who sold 
Mount Vernon to its present ownership, is now a vestryman of Christ 
Church. 

Washington, during the more than forty years of his residence at 
Mount Vernon, was a vestryman at Christ Church, Alexandria, and 
Pohick Church, in Fairfax, the former eight miles from Mount Vernon 
and the latter five miles from there. 

The Purchase of Mouxt Vernox. 

The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union purchased 
Mount Vei-non with the land and tombs under the contract with the 
late John A. Washington, dated April 8, 1858, at the price of $200,000. 
On the subject of the price, Mrs. Susan L. Pellet, the first Secretary of 
the association, under date of Richmond, June 25, 1858, says: 

"The association is well aware that the sum contracted for, as the 
price of the estate, is greatly beyond its value as a piece of property. 
The proprietor has been offered that ($200,000) and even larger sums 
by parties who wished to acquire the property for pecuniary specula- 
tion, and he considered that he had performed his duty to the public 
lay refusing to sell it for any such purpose. Indeed, he had at first 
publicly declined to sell, except to Congress for the United States, or 
to the State of Virginia. Neither Congress nor the Legislature of Vir- 



44 

ginia seeming disposed to make the purchase, Mr. Washington was 
induced to accept the offer of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, 
which is bound by its charter to keep it inalienably sacred to the 
memory of Washington." 

The Mount Vernon propei-ty was fully paid for, and the deed 
received for it in 1868 from W. A. Taylor, Commissioner, though the 
possession of the property seems to have been turned over to the asso- 
ciation in 1860. 

In November, 1859, Miss Ann Pamela Cuningham said, in the 
Mount Vernon record, that Mount Vernon was practically paid for. 
In January, 1860, her post-office address was given as at Philadelphia. 
The Mount Vernon record for February, of 1860, said: 

"The birthday of Washington will be celebrated with more than 
usual demonstrations of joy, for the home and grave of the hero are 
now the property of the nation for the first time." 

I conclude that Mount Vernon was probably turned over to the 
control of the association about the 1st of February, 1860, as in March 
of that year it was exempted from State taxation. On the 5th of 
December, 1859, Mr. George W. Riggs, the then Treasurer, wrote to 
Miss Cuningham that he had that day paid the last bond of $5,000 
due to Mr. Washington on the purchase of Mount Vernon. 

Virginia and the Mount Vernon Association. 

Shortly after the charter was obtained, in 1858, Mrs. Anna Cora 
Ritchie wrote discountenancing the idea that it was a mere State move- 
ment, and declaring that it was national in its scope and purpose, and 
from that time Virginia and the national association have moved hand 
in hand in the great work of the restoration and preservation of 
Mount Vernon. Here is the extract from the letter she wrote to the 
editor of Harper's Weekly, July 17, 1858 (page 19, Mount Vernon 
Record, 1858-59) : 

"The thanks of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union 
are due to you for an eloquent article entitled 'A visit to Mount Vernon,' 
published in your periodical of July 3d. It has been read with much 
interest, but I trust that you will have the goodness to correct an 
error which a sense of justice impels me to point out — you say that a 
number of Virginia ladies have associated themselves together and 
obtained from Mr. Washington a contract entitling them to purchase 
the property for public uses for a given sum within a fixed time. 

"The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association is not one of Virginia 
ladies, nor of ladies from any one State. It is an association of ladies 
of the Union, purely and heartily national in the fullest meaning of 
the word. The project of purchasing and consecrating the home and 
grave of Washington through the exertion of its grateful daughters, 
originated with a lady of South Carolina, Miss Ann Pamela Cuning- 




Christ Church, Alexandria. 

(As it jirobably appeared in Washinjitoiis Day.) 

Finished February 27, 177:5. 



45 

ham. She labored zealously for several years under the title of The 
Southern matron, a nom de plume affixed to her first appeal by an editor 
who was not acquainted with the writer. The dread of personal pub- 
licity caused her to adopt this signature." 

"But when the association became a legalized body, the entreaties 
of her friends, and of Mr. Everett in particular, induced her very reluc- 
tantly to abandon her incognito." 

Virginia and Virginians only claim to have been pai'tly the origi- 
nators of the idea of the purchase of Mount Vernon, and this the his- 
tory of the association of the early day sustains. 

The Record Committee of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, 
in 1897, give the date of the beginning of the association as December 
19, 1853. It will be remembered, as hereinbefore set forth, that Gov- 
ernor Johnson, of Virginia, in his message to the I^egislature, took up 
this subject with the Legislature of Virginia on the 5th of December, 
1853, and his message on that subject is made a part of this record. I 
think the Record Committee should date Miss Cuningham's efforts as 
eai'ly as December 3. 1853, when, according to the Mount Vernon 
Record, she, under the nom de plume of "The Southern Matron," issued 
her first appeal through the press. 

The Mount Veknox Association a Virginia Corporation. 

The Mount Vernon Association is simply a Virginia corporation, 
chartered by the State of Virginia, and, as pointed out in the very able 
opinion of Mr. Tucker, hereinbefore set out in full, a corporation in 
which Virginia takes great pride, and that it is one which will always 
be watched over by the State with fond solicitude as the object of 
especial executive and legislative consideration and care, none can 
doubt. The State, in the future as in the past, will always be ready to 
extend any legislation needed to facilitate the work of the association. 
The great trust of the good ladies. Regent and Vice-Regents of the 
Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, is to see that the tombs 
are kept in good condition, and that the buildings and grounds are 
kept up and improved. These ladies, as trustees for this great object, 
are enabled so to do by the charter rights which Virginia has given 
them to collect the entrance money to the hallowed grounds annually 
from the many thousands of visitors from our own and foreign lands, 
and to see that this great work is properly done, Virginia appoints 
annually a Board of Visitors, and has reserved the right, in case of a 
failure properly so to do, to re-enter Mount Vernon and to do the work 
on State account. The manner in which the Ladies Association has 
heretofore, with the aid of their subordinates and employees, dis- 
charged these duties, gives every assurance that the work will proba- 
bly never be neglected. Nevertheless, the State reserves the right to 
make an annual pilgrimage to Mount Vernon in the persons of its 



46 

Visitors, and to report in writing as to the manner in which year by 
year this great work is being discharged. The wisdom of exercising 
the right of visitation by the State is sustained and vindicated by 
Madame Berghman (Mrs. Laughton) in the close of her report as 
Regent in 1875. In this same report she announced the death of her 
predecessor, Miss Cuningham. She was treating of the necessity for an 
endowment fund. She said: 

"And thus protect our association in the future when its welfare 
shall have passed into the hands of our successors, who may not feel 
for it the loving care, the anxiety that we do, who have labored so 
earnestly and hopefully to fulfill its grand purpose of preserving the 
home and tomb of Washington." 

Ann Pamela Cuningham recited in her last letter, June 1st, 1874, 
the following touching pledges made to Virginia and to the nation when 
Mount Vernon was purchased: 

"In parting I feel it due to you as to me; to the responsibilities I 
solemnly assumed, which were so important in their results; to those 
you have taken upon yourselves, to say a few words as to those respon- 
sibilities, or duties laid down in the beginning of our work — not to be 
lightly regarded, for they were pledges to future generations as well 
as to ours, the minds and hearts which conceived the rescue of the 
home of Washington; of the completion of a worthy 'tribute' to public 
integrity, private virtue; an expression of the gratitude due and felt 
by a country destined to act such an important part in the drama of 
the world; conceived it icith all the reverence felt in older regions for 
the resting places for their honored dead; where only pious hands are 
permitted to be in 'charge,' so as to have them carried down to admir- 
ing ages in the same condition as when left. 

Such was the pledge made to the American heart when an appeal 
was made to it to save the Home and Tomb of Washington, of the 
Father of his Country, from all changes, whether by law or desecra- 
tion. Such, to the last owner of Mount Vernon, ere he was willing to 
permit it to pass from his hands. Such to the Legislature of his 
mother State, ere she gave us legal rights over it. SUCH WE ARE 
BOUND TO KEEP. Our honor is concerned, as well as our intelligence 
and legal obligations. The mansion, and the grounds around it, should 
be religiously guarded from changes — should be kept as Washington 
left them. 

Ladies, the Home of Washington is in your charge. See to it 
that you keep it the Home of Washington. Let no irreverent hand 
change it; no vandal hands desecrate with the fingers of — progress! 
Those who go to the Home in which he lived and died, wish to see in 
what he lived and died! Let one spot in this grand country of ours 
be saved from 'change!'" 




Edward Everett. 



47 

To Whom Credit is Due for the Mount Vernon Purchase. 

Madame Berghman, at the Council of 1875, announcing the death 
of the former Regent, Miss Cuningham. speaks of her as the one "to 
whom our association owes its existence, and Mount Vernon its preser- 
vation." Whilst it is unquestionably true that Miss Cuningham 
originated the idea of the Ladies' Mount Vernon Association of the 
Union, I think, after dispassionately considering the whole record of 
the association, from the first appeal of Miss Cuningham in 1853 down 
to the time Mount Vernon was paid for in 1859. that these persons 
should also be considered as equally entitled, certainly largely entitled, 
to prominence and State and national gratitude because of the parts 
they took in raising the money and paying for Mount Vernon. Placing 
Miss Cuningham first, next comes, 

2. Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie, and the thirty other Vice-Regents, 
who were appointed during 1858-59, and whose names are hereinbefore 
given. Conspicuous among thesa were Madame Le Vert, of Alabama; 
Miss Hamilton, of New York, afterwards Mrs. Schuyler: Mrs. Green- 
ough, of Massachusetts; Mrs. Eve, of Georgia; Mrs. Mitchell, of Wis- 
consin; Mrs. Comegys. of Delaware; Mrs. Blanding, of California; Mrs. 
Murat, of Florida, and Mrs. Pendleton, of Ohio, though all deserve to 
be especially remembered, and their names are included in this report. 

3. Edward Everett. 

4. Susan L. Pellet, the first Secretary of the association. 

5. Miss S. C. Tracy, the first resident Secretary at Mount Vernon. 

6. The newspaper press of the United States, who, at the time the 
money was raised, lent generous approval to the proposition of the 
ladies to buy Mount Vernon, and 

7. The many thousands of people all over the United States, who, by 
their voluntary contributions, made the purchase and dedication of 
Mount Vernon as "the Nation's Pilgrim Shrine," possible, and in this 
great multitude— the women, the Masons, and the school children— were 
most conspicuous. 

How Purchase Money was Contributed. 

In this same report of 1889, Mrs. Laughton, the then Regent, fur- 
nished the figures in the following table: "As indicating the relative 
interest shown by the different States in purchasing and preserving 
Mount Vernon to the country." The first column of the table are the 
States contributing. The second, the amounts respectively contrib- 
uted. The third, the populations of the respective States as of 1860. 
The fourth shows the number of cents per capita each State through its 
citizens contributed to this great object. It will be observed that 
Florida heads the list of States with the per capita contribution of 
two cents and eight mills, California following next. Mrs. Catherine 



48 



Willis Murat, the grand-niece of Washington, was then the first Florida 
Vice-Regent. Edward Everett heads the list with $68,244.59, receipts 
from the delivery of his great Washington oration and his newspaper 
articles. The first column of figures are from Mrs. Laughton's 
report. The last two were prepared by a skillful accountant at my 
request : 



Contributed by 



District of Columbia 

Florida 

California 

Rhode Island . . . . 

Delaware 

Massachusetts . . . . 

Alabama 

Connecticut . . . 

New Hamiashire . . . 

New York 

New Jersey 

Vermont 

Mississippi 

North Carolina . . . 

Greorgia 

Louisiana 

Tennessee 

Michigan . . 

South Carolina . . . 

Virginia 

Kentucky 

Maine 

Arkansas . . . . . 
Pennsjdvania . . . . 

Illinois 

Missouri 

Wisconsin 

Iowa 

Ohio 

Indiana 

Minnesota .... 

Maryland 

Texas 

U. S. Army 

U. S. Navy 

Sandwich Islands . . 
Canada, East . . . . 



Amt. of Con- 
tribution. 

I 2,1-15 03 

3,791 25 

9,5-28 92 

4,()4S 98 

2,269 71 

20,350 21 

10,031 90 

4,904 77 

3,544 47 

38,878 71 

6,682 66 

2,746 29 

7,079 44 

8,160 58 

7,43: 72 

4,981 50 

6,296 38 

4,504 08 

4,331 07 

7,089 61 

4,742 51 

2,726 37 

1,604 57 

8,818 72 

3,804 62 

2,535 37 

1,395 80 

1,302 41 

3,184 60 

946 00 

362 00 

202 00 

20 00 

483 50 

388 00 

142 00 

141 00 



1860 Census 
Population 

75,080 

140,424 

379,994 

174,620 

112,216 

1,231,066 

964,201 

460,147 

326,073 

3,S80,735 

672,035 

315,098 

791,305 

992,622 

1,057,286 

708,002 

1,109,80! 

74M,113 

703,708 

1,596,318 

1,155,H84 

628,279 

485,150 

2,906,215 

1,711,951 

1,182,012 

775,881 

674,913 

2,339,511 

1,350,428 

172,023 

687,049 

604,215 



Per 
Cap- 
ita. 

.028 
.027 
.025 
.023 
.020 
.017 
.011 
.011 
.011 
.010 
.010 
.009 
.009 
.008 
.007 
.(i07 
.006 
.006 
.006 
.004 
.004 
.004 
.004 
.003 
.002 
.002 
.002 
.002 
.001 



* Less than one (1) mill. 



49 

The Van Buren ladies of Kinderhook, N. Y., no doubt ex-President 
Van Buren's family, contributed $50 to the New York Mount Vernon 
fund, and Washington Irving sent Miss Mary Morris Hamilton, the then 
New York Vice-Regent, $500, the largest individual subscription. 

Thirty-two States are on this roll of honor, yet the following 
of these States have now no Vice-Regents: Mississippi has had none 
since 1875; Kentucky none since 1897; South Carolina none since 1897; 
Arkansas none since 1878; Iowa none since 1873; Indiana none since 
1880. Each of these had Vice-Regents during Miss Cuningham's day, 
and thus out of the thirty-two States that united in the purchase of 
Mount Vernon, six of them are unrepresented in the Council of Regents. 
The District of Columbia has had a Vice-Regent since Miss Cuning- 
ham's day, yet the constitution only provides for Vice-Regents from 
the States. The third article of the Constitution says: 

"One shall be appointed from each State if practicable." It seems to 
me that it might always be practicable to have the States that united in 
the purchase of Mount Vernon represented in the governing Council. 
I presume there is some reason why these vacancies have not been 
filled earlier, and no doubt some suitable lady Vice-Regents from these 
States will soon be a part of the Mount Vernon Council, and engaged in 
this noble work and loving care of preserving Mount Vernon and its 
tombs. 

CoNDiTiox OF Buildings, Grounus axd Tombs at Mount Vernon. 

The grounds and buildings and the tombs seem to be in good condi- 
tion, and carefully looked after, and proper improvements from time 
to time have been made. Whilst the grounds, buildings and tombs 
have been under the general management and control of the Regent 
and Vice-Regents, they have been more directly and immediately under 
the supervision, care and attention of the following persons since 1860 
to the present time: 

First, of Ann Pamela Cuningham, who resided at Mount Vernon 
from the time of its possession by the association in 1860 till after the 
meeting of the Council in June. 1872, which she did without salary. 
Miss Cuningham, however, left Mount Vernon in 1860, and did not 
return until 1866. During that time Mount Vernon was under the con- 
trol of Miss S. C. Tracy, of New York, the Secretary of the association, 
who in 1870 became Mrs. Upton H. Herbert. Mr. Upton H. Herbert, of 
Alexandria, was the first Superintendent of Mount Vernon, and 
remained as such until January, 1869, when the ofllce of Superintendent 
was abolished, as the funds of the association were not sufficient to 
authorize its continuance. Mr. Herbert received a letter of thanks 
from the association on his retirement. From 1860 until after the 
Council met, June 11. 1872, Miss Cuningham remained at Mount Vernon, 
acted as Superintendent, and received no salary other than her mere liv- 



50 

ing expenses. At that time (1872) all conceded the alarming condition 
of Miss Cuningham's health, and that it was necessary to give her 
rest and relief. Col. J. M. Hollingsworth was then made resident Secre- 
tary and Superintendnt. In 1885, Col. Hollingsworth resigned, to take 
effect on the 30th of May, and on the 15th of July, 1885, Mr. H. H. 
Dodge, the present Superintendent, was chosen, and he, with Mr. .James 
Young, the assistant resident Superintendent, are now in charge at 
Mount Vernon. 

Miss Cuningham went to South Carolina in December, 1860, re- 
turned to Mount Vernon in the fall of 1866 — went again to South 
Carolina December, 1866, and returned in the fall of 1868. She resigned 
as Regent in the spring of 1873, to take effect June, 1874, and she died 
on the 1st day of May, 1875. During the absence of Miss Cuning- 
ham from Mount Vernon, Miss S. C. Tracy lived at Mount Vernon, 
was in charge, and represented Miss Cuningham, subject to the 
supervision and advice of Mrs. Comegys, the then Delaware Vice-Regent. 
The report of the Record Committee to the Mount Vernon Council, in 
1894, says that twenty-eight letters were written by Miss Cuningham 
to Miss Tracy, and that fifty-eight letters were written by Miss Tracy 
to Miss Cuningham, in South Carolina, during this time. The Record 
Committee further says: 

"These letters of Miss Tracy form a most interesting story of the 
stirring events of these years of strife and suffering, showing in every 
line a judgment, courage, patriotism, fidelity, and cheerful acceptance 
of trials that are remarkable." 

Mr. Upton H. Herbert, the first Superintendent at Mount Vernon, 
says: 

"I never left Mount Vernon during the war. There were no efforts 
to disturb the tomb or the place by troops on either side during that 
period." 

Miss S. C. Tracy, who became Mrs. U. H. Herbert in 1870, resigned 
her situation as Secretary December, 1867, but was requested to remain 
until the 1st of January, and as long afterward as suited her con- 
venience. 

She was succeeded by Mrs. Tiffey as Secretary, who probably re- 
mained until 1873. 

Propkrty of the Association. 
Besides the real estate, which was fully paid for at the time of 
the receipt of the deed for the same, in 1868, the association from -its 
entrance fees of 25 cents, collected from every person entering the 
grounds, and from donations, had accumulated, in 1901, as shown by 
the report of the Regents for this year as follows: 



51 

ASSETS OF THE MOUNT VERNON LADIES' ASSOCIATION OF 

THE UNION. 

As shown by the report of the Treasurer, Mr. E. Francis Riggs, 
dated May 10, 1901, the total assets of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Asso- 
ciation, May 1, 1901, invested in securities and held in cash, were 
$81,105.07, as follows: 

Invested in bonds, etc $24,600 00 

Invested in mortgage notes 24,750 00 



Total investments $59,350 00 

Cash balance to credit of general account $17,772 75 

Cash balance to credit of endowment fund 3,982 32 



Total cash $21,755 07 



Total assets $81,105 07 

Endowment fund invested May 1, 1900, as shown by report 

of May, 1900 53,600 00 

Mortgage notes since paid, as per report of May, 1901 6,250 00 



$46,350 00 
Investments in mortgage notes since May, 1900, as per 

report of May, 1901 $13,000 00 



Endowment fund invested May 1, 1901, as above $59,350 00 

The receipts of the association from all sources for the fiscal year 
ending April 30, 1901, other than interest on the endowment fund, were 
$28,908.05, and the expenditures were $19,717.19 (see report 1901, 
pages 19-20). 

Mr. E. Francis Riggs, of the historic banking house of Corcoran 
and Riggs (now the Riggs National Bank of Washington, D. C), is 
the very capa.ble and efficient Secretary of the association, and the funds 
of the association seem to be carefully looked after. 

The late George W. Riggs, the father of E. Francis Riggs, was the 
first Treasurer of the association, and, except for a brief period, acted 
as such until his death, in 1882. The late Treasurer was a most highly 
esteemed gentleman and useful officer. 

Ann Pamela Cuningham, by Governor McSweeney. 

At my request. His Excellency M. B. McSweeney, Governor of 
South Carolina, has kindly furnished me for insertion in this report 
the following touching Miss Ann Pamela Cuningham, the first Regent 
of the association: 

"Ann Pamela Cuningham was born in Laurens District (now 
(County), S. C, on her father's Rosemont plantation in the colonial 



52 

mansion, his residence, August 15, 1816, and died there May 1, 1875, in 
the 59th year of her age. In religious faith she was a Presbyterian. 
By her own request her body was carried to Columbia, S. C, and laid 
to rest in the church yard of the First Presbyterian Church of that 
city. A handsome granite sarcophagus marks the place of her burial. 

Miss Cuningham was taught under a private tutor at home until 
she was nine years old. At this tender age she was sent to a select 
boarding school, Barhamville, near Columbia, S. C, where she remained 
until seventeen, spending her vacations with her parents at home, or 
in travel. She was then sent to a fashionable boarding school in Phila- 
delphia. At nineteen she became a hopeless invalid, and suffered much. 

Her mother, during one of her trips North, spent a week at Mount 
Vernon with her two children, Ann Pamela and her son, John, as the 
guests of Judge and Mrs. Bushrod Washington, and it was during this 
visit that it flashed through Mrs. Cuningham's mind that should the 
family ever consent to part with the estate, it ought to be bought by 
the nation. Ann Pamela was then but a few years old. Many years 
after that, when Mount Vernon had fallen into decay, and she was on 
her way to Philadelphia, to be placed under the treatment and care of 
a doctor, in passing Mount Vernon on the boat during the solemn tolling 
of the bell, the mother communicated to her daughter the suggestion. 
During her several years' of work for the Mount Vernon Association, 
Miss Cuningham shrank from notoriety, but wherever she went the 
leading newspapers sent representatives to interview and write her 
up. But she invariably and courteously declined. It is to be regretted 
that she did. Her very personality, it is said, was an inspiration. 

In stature, Miss Cuningham was below medium, with a complexion 
as fine and colorless as Parian marble; clear-cut features, perfect in 
outline, large blue eyes, wide apart, with a profusion of Titian-red hair, 
mahogany tinted; and with a most sensitive mouth and face, she was 
deemed very beautiful. The portraits and photograph copies of her 
give no real idea of the woman. From her earliest girlhood up to the 
time of her severe affliction, which was a spinal trouble, she had many 
admirers, some of whom attained high distinction. Her voice was 
delightfully pleasing in tone, and her conversational powers were 
remarkable. But it was for her great patriotic work for the Mount 
Vernon Association that she merits the thanks of a grateful country, 
and her memory is embalmed in the heart of every American citizen. 

Miss Cuningham, although a helpless invalid, was a woman of 
indomitable will and tireless energy. She was a lady of high culture 
and refinement. In addition to her educational advantages, she had 
enjoyed opportunities of travel, both in her own country and abroad. 
These acquirements the better equipped her for the arduous task she 
had so willingly assumed, and to overcome the many trials and difficul- 
ties she had to encounter to attain her cherished object. But success 



53 

finally crowned her noble, long-continued efforts, during a period of 
seven years while prostrate upon an invalid couch, the requisite two 
hundred thousand dollars were obtained, and paid over to Mr. J. A. 
Washington, the then owner of Mount Vernon, and possession was 
given to the Ladies' Mount Vernon Association of the Union, and to 
Miss Cuningham as the first Regent, of the buildings, the grounds, 
and the tombs. Miss Cuningham, as Regent, with the other officers 
of the association, began the work of restoring Mount Vernon and its 
grounds. This work, however, was interrupted during the civil war, 
1861-65, with all its terrible carnage and devastating results; but very 
soon after its close, with the same tireless spirit which had prompted 
and sustained her through many trials and disappointments, she and 
her associates resumed their labor of love. 

The first Regent of the Mount Vernon Association. Miss Ann 
Pamela Cuningham, did not live to witness the full fruition of her 
hopes; but her plans had so nearly succeeded, and the seed she had 
sown had grown so nearly to mature fruitage as to cheer her last 
moments. 

A lady friend and near relative of this noble woman, who knew 
her intimately, says: "For long years she was never free from pain, 
even in sleep, and her patience and endurance were almost superna- 
tural." 

In her will she says: "It is well for me that I have suffered." 

Miss Cuningham was the daughter of the late Captain Robert 
Cuningham, the sage of Rosemont, a man of prominence and large 
possessions both in real and personal estate. He was a prominent offi- 
cer in the war of 1812, but never held or aspired to any civil office. He 
was of "the family type — possessing the fiery vehemence of youth, the 
typical mahogany-colored hair and beard, and a cavalier In manners 
and bearing." Rosemont, of which he was the owner, was settled in 
1769. In this house he was born, and in which he died in 1859 at the 
age of 73. The English writer (Curwen) says, speaking of the 
Cuningham ancestors of England, as follows: 

* * * "The family of Cuningham in Scotland, now repre- 
sented by William Cuningham, Esq., of Craigends, of which that of 
South Carolina is a branch, have been long distinguished for their 
determined hostility to all exertions of arbitrary power, whether pro- 
ceeding from the ill-defined prerogative of the Monarch, or from the 
usurped authority of associated bodies of men." 

The historic mansion is now owned by his grandson. Major Robert 
N. Cuningham, and has been in the Cuningham family since it was 
settled by Patrick Cuningham, in 1769, one hundred and thirty-two 
years ago. By tradition we learn that the timbers of which this Colon- 
ial house is built, were cut on the fine wooded lands bordering on the 



54 

Saluda, rafted down that sti'eam to Charleston, from whence they were 
shipped to England, where they were framed into a house, "modeled 
after the ancestral home of the Cuninghams, shipped back in sections 
to Charleston, and up the Saluda river, where the 'mansion' was set 
up on the site selected in the midst of primeval woods." 

It is still in a good state of preservation, and it was recently said 
of it: "Though no longer kept as of yore, it is still most picturesque 
and interesting, and the mansion is a treasure house of old mahogany, 
pictures and old china and glass." The property is now owned and 
occupied by John Cuningham, a nephew of Ann Pamela Cuningham. 

Of Miss Pamela's mother, those who remember Mrs. Cuningham 
speak of her as "a beautiful old lady, who loved to surround herself 
with all that was beautiful," and tradition adds that "she was a great 
belle in her girlhood. The mother and daughter are interesting figures 
of the past, as we think of them ruling their domain of broad acres 
and dusky subjects with authoritative, unquestioned, yet affectionate 
sway." 

Several years ago the Daughters of the Revolution, at La Grange, 
Georgia, named their organization in honor of Ann Pamela Cuningham. 

In the South Carolina room at Mount Vernon there hangs a por- 
trait of Miss Cuningham. It is mounted in a handsome gold gilt 
frame; a shield below bears this inscription; 

Ann Pamela Cuningham, 

of South Carolina, 

First Regent of the Mount 

Vernon Association — 1858-1874. 

Born 15th August, 

1816. Died May 1, 1875. 

Her life work is here. 

There is no portrait of another Regent or Vice-Regent, dead or liv- 
ing, on the walls of the Mount Vernon mansion, and none of Edward 
Everett. 

A Splkndid Tribute from Mrs. Sweat, Vice-Regent from Maine. 

Probably the best tribute to Miss Cuningham, no doubt faithful 
and accurate, is that of Mrs Margaret J. M. Sweat, Vice-Regent of 
Maine, in her report of the Council held at Mount Vernon June 21, 
1870. Mrs. Sweat says: 

"The Regent of the association (then Miss Ann Pamela Cuning- 
ham), whose time and strength and fortune have been, in large measure, 
devoted to its service, crowned these sacrifices by consenting to reside 





I. Ann P. Cuningham, First Regent. II. Anna Cora Ritchie, First 
A'ice-Regent, and First V^irginia Vice-Regent. III. Octavia Walton 
Le Vert, First Vice-Regent, from Alabama. IV. Alice Key Pendle- 
ton, Ohio's First Vice-Regent. V. Catharuie Willis Murat,*Florida's 
First Vice- Regent. 



55 

upon the spot undeterred by its loneliness and unhealthfulness. By 
her personal supervision, close economy and wise precautions, she has 
brought the association out of debt and preserved a cordial sympathy 
of action among the Vice-Regents, which is invaluable in such an affil- 
iation. It is not too much to say that the self-denying enthusiasm 
which Miss Cuningham has brought to her task is absolutely without 
a parallel, and the whole country should know that during all these 
years and through all these personal sacrifices, this unselfish and high- 
minded lady has never accepted one dollar of remuneration, and now 
attends to all the added duties of her position without salary, com- 
pensated only by the measure of her success in administration and the 
grateful recognition of those who know how inestimable have been her 
services." 

(It should be observed right here that Miss Cuningham's name is 
spelled CUNINGHAM, not Cunningham, yet in all the printed proceed- 
ings of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, as far as I have obsei'ved, 
the latter spelling has been followed, and not the former, which is the 
correct way to spell and write it.) 

AxxA Cora Mowatt Ritchie. First Vice-Regext. 

Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie, Virginia's first Vice-Regent, and the 
first Vice-Regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, 
was a most remarkable, indeed, a wonderful woman. She was born 
in or near Bordeaux, France, where her father was then temporarily 
residing, probably in the year 1819, but she was really of New York 
parentage. Her father was a New York merchant, and she was taken 
back to that city when between seven and eight years of age. She was 
the tenth of seventeen children. Her grandfather was an Episcopal 
minister, and she was the granddaughter of Francis Lewis, of New 
York, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. 

A New York lawyer, named Mowatt, fell in love with her when she 
was a little past thirteen years of age, and she was married to him in 
a runaway match when she was a little more than fifteen years of age. 
Her father consented that Mowatt might marry her at tne age of sev- 
enteen, but forgave them for running away and became reconciled to 
them shortly after their marriage. Mowatt was a speculator, and lost 
all of his property when his wife was probably not more than twenty- 
one years of age. To support him, who became feeble in health because 
of his reverses in fortune, as well as herself, she began her life work 
by writing magazine articles under the nom de plume of Helen Berke- 
ley. Next she gave literary readings, then became an authoress of 
considerable note; next a dramatist, and finally an actress, and for 
nearly nine years was a brilliant theatrical star, not only in America, 
North, South, East and West, taut crossed the ocean and met with like 



56 

great success in England and Ireland, appearing in London, Liverpool, 
Manchester and Dublin. She remained in England from 1847 to 1851, 
her stage life beginning in 1845. She toured America from 1845 to 
1847, and again from 1851 to 1854, retiring from the stage at Niblo's 
Garden, June 3, 1854. She became Mrs. William F. Ritchie on the 7th 
of June, 1854, just four days after her retirement from the stage. She 
wrote a charming autobiography, which reached an edition nearly fifty 
years ago of 20,000 copies. 

In but little over a month after her marriage she appeared as 
Secretary of the Ladies' meeting held in Richmond, July 3, 1854, to 
promote the purchase by the ladies of Mount Vernon, and she was con- 
nected with this movement and with this association until her resig- 
nation, in 1866, or more than twelve years. 

She was reared in the Episcopal faith, but became a Swedenbor- 
gian, as was her first husband, Mowatt. Mr. Ritchie, her second huS' 
band, warmly seconded all her efforts as a Vice-Regent of the Mount 
Vernon Association, both personally and through the columns of the 
Enquirer, of which he was at that time the editor. As a writer, reader, 
for she first gave readings before going on the stage, and an actress, 
she entertained and charmed many thousands, both at home and 
abroad. She was the authoress, not only of many magazine articles, 
but of a great many books. She died at Henley-on-Thames, near Lon- 
don, July 28, 1870. 

Mr. W. F. Ritchie, her husband, was born in Richmond, January, 
1817, and died at Brandon, on the James river, where he was buried 
April 24, 1877. He was the son of the great editor, Thomas Ritchie, 
of our State, who died July 3, 1854, and is buried at Hollywood. 

She was a Virginian only by adoption, but her record and her life 
were alike so brilliant and pure that Virginians ought always to claim 
her as one of their own, and to be proud of her. Probably the best 
insight into her character is taken from her autobiography, and is in 
these words, called forth by the fact that her husband, having failed 
and being broken in health, it devolved upon her, in his misfortune and 
illness to take up life's burden as a bread-winner: 

"Misfortunes sprinkle ashes on a man's head, but fall like dew on 
the heart of a woman and bring forth strength of which she had no 
conscious possession." 

These words were the index to the great success she made of her 
life, and the footprints she has left behind on the sands of time. Her 
literary productions showed knowledge of all phases of life and its 
requirements, including cookery, needlework, and home affairs. 

Two extracts which follow show the purity of her life. The first 
were from gentlemen of Savannah, Ga., tendering her a benefit after 
her return from Europe, in 1851. They say: 



57 

stage.^ '""^"^ °^ ''''"' '^^''^''"^ ^^^ attainments elevates and adorns the 
The Mayor of Boston, with a large number of its leading citizens 

is to'^." : d;^n:tr^::h:i^rr s..^^^ ^ ^^-^'- --- 

They further say: 

thinZ''/rrv'T''''"''°™^- "'^^ ^^^ P"- Of better 

perv nat,.. of ''' ™'''' "''^ '^"^'^ ^"^^^^^ ^^^^^^ the slip- 

per> paths of praise and success." 

And writing of her in 1882, Marian Harland said- 
When she was on the stage the boldest tongue durst not utter a 
syllable derogatory to her honor and discretion ' 

nn. ^''; ,^^"^' ^^« P^^^^'^t Secretary of the association, says in a 
note to the undersigned: ^ ' 

"Mrs. Ritchie seems to have been very efficient in the formation 
and organization and completing the legislation. It was M s R ch e 

ham) T:LT'''' '^' '^"' '""'^''''^ «^^^- ^^- Pamela Cunin,- 

She was one of the most distinguished ladies ever connected with 
the Mount Vernon Association, and her life and record were a mosTls 
noted in her day as. was that of Massachusett's great son anTMounJ 
Vernon's great friend, Edward Everett. I trust to live long exLfgh to 
^sxt Mount Vernon and to behold the portraits of Anna Cora Moltt 

the hrst Regent, for in my opinion they were the potential factors in 
securing Mount Vernon to the Mount Vernon Association 

Hon John S. Wise, who represented Virginia in the House of Rep 
resentatives as a Congressman at large in the 48th Congi^ss thus 

tT^iu^rtVh^rrr ^^-"^^^ ^- ^^^^-- " - ^ --- 

Anna'^cTra^Mow^an'RiShie'lnri'dn '"''-^' "^•^. -collections of Mrs. 

''''41Z n^Tf- "p- Z'LLli ^^'''' '- «^^ -^^^ - 

GovernSro/ v'ginS^and'^'^wl^fV^^^ ^^^^^^^^ -^ ^^ther was 

her husband, the Tate William Fm,.hpl about ten years old. She and 
embowered cottage on the we^t ^?I nf\r ll^'l' ^'""^^ *^ ^ ^^^tle rose- 

most delightfu Iv She had a f^/J^ ^ . ^^^ "^^'- ^"^ entertained 
evenings in the fifties. sheeted by upper-tendom in the summer 



58 

"As I recall it, I first saw Mrs. Ritchie when I was sent to her 
home with a note inviting her to some entertainment, or possibly in 
response to some inquiry of hers about the Mount Vernon enterprise, 
in which she was deeply interested. She was then in the full bloom 
of mature womanhood. Her face and form and complexion were 
beautiful; her manners extremely gracious, and her voice charming. 
She met me at the door and conducted me into a beautifully arranged 
study, or reception-room, where her husband, a large, ruddy man, sat 
with a bandaged foot supported upon a stool. He was suffering with 
gout. Her tenderness and petting of Mr. Ritchie amused me greatly. 
I remember that among other terms of endearment she called him her 
'great big baby.' and when I saw her caressing him and soothing him 
in his paroxysms of pain I felt that even gout was not wiiuout its com- 
pensations. 

"They were childless; but she had a passion for children, and was 
seldom without the companionship of one of her little nieces, Ogdens, 
of New York. She made a great pet of me, and I, in turn, became 
immensely infatuated with the little Ogden (name now forgotten) 
who happened, at that time, to be locum tenens in her household. 
This affection was transferred from time to time, much to her amuse- 
ment, as her nieces successively arrived at her home, and my love 
affairs with the successive Misses Ogden culminated in a passionate 
attachment for one about seventeen years old, who personated the Peri 
in a series of tableaux gotten up by Mrs. Ritchie, representing Paradise 
and the Peri, presented in the ball-room of the old Ballard Hotel in aid 
of the Mount Vernon fund. These tableaux were exquisite in design 
and execution, as indeed were all the efforts of Mrs. Ritchie. As scenes 
followed each other she repeated the appropriate verse of the poem. 
The angel was the beautiful Annie Gardner, afterwards Mrs. Rennolds, 
and Mr. Percico represented the devil. 

"Mrs. Ritchie was a very intellectual woman, and wielded great 
influence in her day in social circles in Richmond. I have not known 
any one there since who gave such a stimulus to and created such an 
interest in literary and dramatic culture. She undoubtedly did much 
towards the cultivation of the late John R. Thompson and other young 
men, his contemporaries. Upon several occasions she read or recited 
from Shakespeare's comedies to large companies assembled in the par- 
lors of the Government House, and her elocution must have been far 
above the ordinary, for, even child as I was. I was charmed and 
enchained by her grace, her striking and correct emphasis, and her 
really eloquent interpretation and delivery. Mrs. Ritchie was above 
the suspicion of lightness in her private life, and was an honor to the 
profession in which she had been conspicuous in her youth. Women 
admired her and delighted in her society, which is always, in my judg- 
ment, the most reliable endorsement a woman can have: and men 
simply adored her, always looking upward. I was never in her society 
without receiving some flattering word or tender look, or gracious 
courtesy, which made me even then regret that there was no child of 
her own to be blessed with the mother-love, the womanly tenderness 
and feminine refinement with which her whole being overflowed. 
Unquestionably, Mrs. Ritchie was one of the most potent influences 
in the Mount Vernon movement, and by the power of her beauty, her 
grace, her intellect, and her altogether charming personality, she did 
perhaps more than any other woman in Virginia towards what was 
accomplished. 



59 



greatest greatness!- Vernon, the shrine of great Virginia's 



EinVAKI) EVEKETT. 



died January 15. 1865. MrreVe i" afln 'ht'r'"""" *"■■" '^'"'^^ 
and will be remembered so in history At 17 he"''' ' '"'^ ^''"'" ""■ 
Harvard University at 19 he hli ,, ""^ graduated from 

-ember o, Con.reL, Tn whit: he b^.ra si'tTr'"'""^ ^' ^' ^ 
three times Governor of M^^.onl! .! ' ^^"^ ^^^'■^- ^e was 

term by one vote L w!s 2^^ ' '"' '" "^ '^'^^'^^ ^^^^ ^ ^"-^^ 
James, serving undefpx^sfdents V 'p"' ""'"''''' '' '"^ ^^^^'^ «^ ^t. 
more than a vear he wa. ^ , '"'""' '^^'■"^«" ^^^ Tyler. For 

resigning\olu: arilyin aLTnTorilTh'lf '"^^ '' ^'^ ^^^^^^ «^^^-- 
died he succeeded hL as Sec e a'v "f S^' '"' "'.^" °^^^^^ ^^^''^t- 
was a candidate for the vZl / ' ""''^' Filmore, and lastly 

Everett ticket. Though deflaTerforfh- " .''''• ^" ^'^ ^^" ^^ 
her fifteen electoral votes Th! • ^^''' ^'^'^^"^^ ^^^^ ^im 

ever, will be his nob e rh,. . ™^ ^''''''' °^ ^^^ ''^^ ^^^^'k- How- 

with voice and pen o,,: 1':^^^ """' ^" ^'^ ^««^^« ^^ -^^^e 

Of Mount Vernon^s "nrnaTr. irall^lme^^I^^- "'^T"^^^ 
he went up and down the land f,„™ «. ""= «'''''" ""''li: 

a= St. I.o„is. speaKlnri 'Merent Z' '"'°*''- ""'' '" '^'^ "-' 
charmln, oration on Washlo^orr 1^15 TeS "fee'f ' ''■"' 
he reserved no part of the proceeds of the ,%"""''' '« "O"- reward: 

expenses. He says, howevrhe Vas neSr^er" T '" ""^^'""^ 
entertained, and that the ,.Jii / ^ everywhere hospitably 

free travel. t s safe „ s^v ^"f ^^ "'"""""^ <'"»"»'• '<> "- 

the Mount Vernon at olesptbulhed^f"''^ '""' o-""™ »" 

110.000 were paid, Monnf Vernt w 'uid'no^ha"::^'''''"' i°' ^"''^ 
paid for before the war ^^" purchased and 

ea,-,y^::ir.;';e'tL3r::rL-v-r-:-™\reV"^'^"-^-^^ 

sentatives in Washington wh,Vh t l V ^ ^""'^^^ ^^ ^^pre- 

Gray Otis, a Senat"' m Sacht^^tts t7 "'' """'' ""■■'=- 
then Governor of Vlrsinla r„T„!, f . ""'"' ""'"■>' A. Wise, 

Charmed so many auSnces wher ve" " ^^-'""'^"'n oi-ation-that 
he Miltonlc prose The cordlamv T, I, V""''' '" ""'"'''" ^'»"'^-«° 
Where most marked, an^tl; , l^-^and'The'r'T""" '™= ^^"^■ 
South Carolina, he had ovations. TWs ^eat man ?' T' ''"''"'""' 

trfI^e^^^:,rsrw^s':urt-"^^^^ 

.eans for the .^esr^v::. oltrnVtr"^-- J° -^^ 



Not only did their 



60 

audiences respond liberally by attendance on his oration, for which a fee 
was always required, but there can be but little doubt that the newspaper 
notices and extracts from this oration induced many indirect contribu- 
tions from all over the land, not shown in the receipts for his oration 
and newspaper articles, and in the making of these contributions all 
classes were prominent, even the school children of that day taking 
a conspicuous part, the then President of the United States James 
Buchanan making a special contribution of $50 through Mrs. Ritchie, 
Virginia's Vice-Regent, and ex-Presidents Tyler and Filmore honored 
themselves and the great work Mr. Everett had in hand by being 
notable attendants upon the delivery of this oration at different times 
and places. 

Everett's Descriptiox of Mount Vernox. 

The following extract from Edward Everett's great oration on 
Washington, the delivery of which so stirred the country and brought 
so much money into the treasury for the purchase of Mount Vernon, 
seems to be singularly appropriate here: 

"There is a modest private mansion on the banks of the Potomac, 
the abode of George Washington and Martha, his beloved, his loving, 
his faithful wife. It boasts no spacious palace or gorgeous colonnades, 
no massive elevation nor storied tower. The porter's Lodge at Blen- 
heim Castle, nay the marble dog kennels were not built for the cost 
of Mount Vernon. No arch nor column in courtly English or courtlier 
Latin sets forth the deeds or worth for the Father of his Country. He 
needs them not. The unwritten benedictions of millions cover all the 
walls. No gilded dome swells from the lowly roof to catch the morning 
or evening beams, but the love and gratitude of united America settle 
upon it in one eternal sunshine. From beneath that humble roof went 
forth the intrepid and unselfish warrior — the magistrate who knew no 
glory but his country's good: to that he returned happiest when his 
work was done — there he lived in noblest simplicity; there he died in 
glory and peace. While it stands the latest generations of the grateful 
children of America will make the pilgrimage to it as to a shrine, and 
when it shall fall, if fall it must, the memory and the name of Wash- 
ington shall shed an eternal glory on the spot." 

Who Induced Everett to Write and Speak for Mount Vernox. 

Mrs. Ward, the Secretary of the Council, in her 1900 report, says: 

"When Mrs. Ritchie went to Boston, to give readings to assist 
Mrs. Greenough in raising funds for the purchase of Mount Vernon, 
she set Boston and Cambridge on fire with enthusiasm for the patriotic 
work." 

May not this effort of Mrs. Ritchie's not only have set Boston and 
Cambridge on fire, but also have been the inspiration to Edward 
Everett and the State of Massachusetts for their large contribution to- 
wards the purchase of Mount Vernon? 

That this is psosible is known by the following from one of the 
articles of Sir Charles MacKay, of England, in his Trans-Atlantic 



61 

Sketches, written in 1859 and republished in the Mount Vernon Record 
of that year: 

"Mr. Everett, the most eloquent of living Americans, was brought 
into the service, whether by Miss Cuningham, Madame Le Vert (of 
Alabama), or Mrs. Ritchie (so well and greatly admired in London as 
Mrs. Anna Cora Mowatt), or whether by these three graces in combina- 
tion, it is difficult to say." 

Presented to Everett and Yancey. 

On the 22d of February, 1858, the noble equestrian statue of Wash- 
ington was dedicated at Richmond with very imposing ceremony, under 
the auspices of the Legislature of Virginia, the distinguished United 
States Senator, R. M. T. Hunter, delivering the oration. Mr. Everett 
was present on that occasion, as the guest of the State, and at the public 
entertainment in the evening was called upon to respond to the toast, 
"Massachusetts and Virginia — Revolutionary ties which united them 
still live in the hearts of the people," and made an eloquent response. 

In the summer of 1857, the ladies of the Mount Vernon Association 
became possessed of a cane and spy-glass that belonged to Washington. 
The one they gave to Edward Everett, the other, the spy-glass, to 
William L. Yancey, of Alabama, for his efforts in assisting Madame 
LeVert to raise funds for the association in that State. Col. George W. 
Munford, then Secretary of the Commonwealth, on behalf of these 
ladies, presented to these gentlemen on the 23d of Feoruary, 1858. 
The presentation took place in Richmond, in the Richmond Theatre. 
■General Winfield Scott and others were present. This spy-glass was 
bequeathed to Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, by William L. Yancey, 
in his will, and in 1899 was presented to the association by Mrs. Varina 
Davis, the widow of Jefferson Davis. William L. Yancey was first 
cousin of Ann Pamela Cuningham. 

Catherine Willis Murat. 

It seems to me that I ought not to omit from this narration this 
about the first Florida Vice-Regent, Madame Murat, who was a grand- 
niece of Washington, and a native of Fredericksburg, in this State. A 
fugitive newspaper article says of her: 

"The old Episcopal Church in Tallahassee. Fla., holds within its 
limits the simple stones which mark the last resting place of Prince 
Achille Murat and his American Princess, who, in the bloom of her 
youthful beauty was known throughout all Eastern Virginia as Cathe- 
rine Byrd Willis, the daughter of Col. Byrd Willis, of Willis Hill, near 
Fredericksburg, Va., and his wife, Mary Lewis, a niece of General Wash- 
ington. The Willis Hill place, on which Madame Murat was born, is 
now occupied by the Fredericksburg National Cemetery. 



62 

"When Catherine Willis was a lovely maid of 15 summers, and a 
Virginia belle of renown, she became the wife of a Scotch gentleman, a 
Mr. Grey, who only survived his marriage a few months, and Mrs. 
Grey was left a widow at the age of 16. 

"A few years afterward, her father, with whom she lived, removed 
to Florida, and Mrs. Grey became the brilliant leader of an exclusive 
society circle in Tallahassee. Here she met Achille Murat, the eldest 
son of Naples's exiled King, his mother being Caroline Bonaparte. 

"Like Caesar, she 'came, saw and conquered,' for Prince Achille fell 
madly in love at once and pressed his suit with all the ardor and devo- 
tion of which he was capable. 

"For some time this beautiful lady, who had been accustomed both 
in Virginia and Florida to all the homage and devotion that the sterner 
sex could proffer, looked coldly on her foreign lover, who only won her 
at last by his unchanging love and faithfulness, in spite of her chilli- 
ness and rebuffs. 

"After their marriage they lived on their Florida plantation. The 
Prince took Madame Murat to a family gathering of the Bonaparte 
family in Europe. Prince Achille bore an extraordinary resemblance 
to the dead Emperor, and this likeness was commented on while he and 
his wife were in Belgium. 

"When they went to London, Madame Murat met her husband's 
cousin, Louis Napoleon, who called her cousin Kate, confided to her 
his hopes and ambitions, and in whom he took a lasting interest. 

"The Murats returned to America, the Prince distinguishing himself 
in the Seminole war. But an illness contracted during that time weak- 
ened his constitution, and he died in 1847. After this time, Madame 
Murat lived mostly in Tallahassee, though she had a plantation and two 
hundred slaves subject to her benignant administration. When Louis 
Napoleon was made Emperor of the French, she visited him at the 
Tuileries, where he gave a State dinner in her honor. 

"Her Florida life from this time until the breaking out of the civil 
war, if uneventful, was a busy and happy one. She was largely instru- 
mental in placing Mount Vernon in the care of the Mount Vernon 
Association. 

"The civil war impoverished her, as it did many others; in fact, 
most others of her class. In the days of her adversity, however, Louis 
Napoleon, then at the zenith of his success, remembered his 'cousin 
Kate," and sent her a life annuity of $5,000, in memory of the days 
when she had hearkened kindly to his castle-building in England, and 
encouraged the hopes which the rest of the world regarded as mere 
'moonshine and madness.' 

"She crossed the ocean once more to visit the Emperor and his 
wife. Eugenie, then came back to her home, where she died the follow- 
ing year. She was laid to sleep beside Prince Achille, and soon the 
grass and flowers were growing green over the graves of the royal 
pair." 

Prince Murat and his wife are buried side by side. Two simple 
monuments, ten feet high, cover their graves. The inscriptions on 
them are: 

"I. Departed this life April 18, 1847, Charles Louis Napoleon 
Achille Murat, son of the King of Naples and Caroline Murat, aged 47. 



63 

This monument is dedicated by his wife, Catherine, in perpetual mem- 
ory of her love. 

"II. Sacred to the memory of Catherine Willis Murat, widow of Col. 
Charles Louis Napoleon Achille Murat, and daughter of the late Col. 
Byrd C. Willis, of Virginia, who departed this life August 6, 1867, in 
the 64th year of her age." 

Madame Murat by her marriage became a grand-niece of Napoleon 
Bonaparte, as she was of Washington by descent. 

The half-tone of Madame Catherine Willis Murat, in the group of 
the first Regent and first Vice-Regents, was made from a photograph 
presented by Madame Murat to Mrs. W. D. Bloxham, of Florida, the wife 
of Governor W. D. Bloxham, of that State, and by him furnished for 
use in this connection. It was taken just before Madame Murat sailed 
for Paris to visit Napoleon III. immediately after the close of the civil 
war, in 1865. 

Madame LeVert. 

The first Vice-Regent from Alabama, Madame LeVert, the fourth 
in order of those appointed by Miss Cuningham in 1858. was very promi- 
nent and useful in the Mount Vernon purchase. 

Madame Octavia Walton LeVert was the grand-daughter of George 
Walton, of Georgia. He was born in Virginia, in 17-40; was one of the 
signers of the Declaration of Independence; afterwards became a Colo- 
nel in the Revolutionary war; was severely wounded in an engagement 
near Savannah, Ga., in 1778; was twice Governor of Georgia; was twice 
a member of the Continental Congress; was a United States Senator 
from Georgia in 1793, serving one year; and at his death, in 1804, was 
Chief Justice of Georgia. Madame LeVert was the fourth Vice-Regent 
appointed by Miss Cuningham, and it was largely due to her, no doubt, 
that Alabama's contribution to the purchase of Mount Vernon was the 
largest of any of the Southern States. Mrs. LeVert, nee Walton, was 
the only daughter of the only son of George Walton. Her father was 
Territorial Secretary of Florida under General Jackson. She was born 
near Augusta, Ga., about 1810, and died in Augusta, Ga., in 1877, and is 
buried in the United States Arsenal Grounds overlooking that city. 
During the period of her residence in Florida, and whilst her father was 
Secretary of the Territory of Florida, she was asked to give a name to 
the capital of Florida, which she did, calling it Tallahassee, which signi- 
fied in the Indian tongue, "The Beautiful Land." In 1836 she married 
Dr. LeVert, who was the son of the fleet surgeon of Admiral Rocham- 
heau, who was present with Rochambeau at the siege of Yorktown. 
Madame LeVert, in addition to many other accomplishments, wrote a 
notable book of travels and was and is regarded as one of the most 
remarkable women of her day. 



64 

Maky Mokkis Hamilto.n. 

The first Vice-Regent from New York, Miss Mary Morris Hamilton, 
deserves especial mention. New York contributed nearly one-fifth of 
the purchase price of Mount Vernon. No doubt this large contribu- 
tion to this great work was mainly because of Miss Hamilton's labors 
and supervision in that behalf. I have seen a fac simile of Washington 
Irving's letter contributing $500, addressed to Miss Hamilton. Miss 
Hamilton came of most distinguished lineage. She was the grand- 
daughter of Alexander Hamilton, a signer of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, General in the war of the Revolution, and first Secretary of 
the Treasury under Washington. She was a great-grand-daughter of 
Robert Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence from Penn- 
sylvania, and one of the first Senators from that State. She was born 
January 1, 1818, and died May 11, 1877. Miss Hamilton became the 
second wife of Mr. George L. Schuyler, of New York, who died in 1890. 

The Council of Regents, in 1877, adopted the following resolution 
unanimously: 

"Whereas, this Council assembled immediately after the decease 
of Mrs. Mary Hamilton Schuyler, representing New York in this asso- 
ciation. 

Resolved, That the Council place upon its record its grateful recog- 
nition of the long and faithful services of Mrs. Schuyler to this asso- 
ciation, and its sincere regret that death has closed so valuable a life." 

Mrs. Schuyler, nee Hamilton, was a very charitable woman and a 
member of many charitable associations. She became, in 1852, one of 
the founders of the School of Design for Women in the State of New 
York, and was one of its managers until it was adopted by the Cooper 
Institute. The Ladies' Art Association was founded in New York in 
1867, partly at the suggestion of Mrs. Schuyler, the object of the asso- 
ciation being to help ladies to support themselves and to give them ade- 
quate education in art and design. In this institution Mrs. Schuyler 
evinced considerable interest during her life. Mrs. Schuyler was also 
prominently identified with the United States Sanitary Commission 
during the war, 1861-65. She is reputed to have been a lady of much 
talent, sweetness of disposition, and in every sense of great personal 
worth. 

Alice Key Pendleton. 

Alice Key Pendleton, wife of ex-Senator George H. Pendleton, of 
Ohio, the first Vice-Regent appointed in 1856, was the daughter of 
Francis Scott Key, the author of "The Star Spangled Banner." Mrs. 
Pendleton, nee Key, was born in Baltimore, Md., November 21, 1824. 
She was married to George H. Pendleton, of Ohio, June 2, 1846, who in 
his day was a most distinguished citizen of that State, serving in both 
Houses of Congress and being the unsuccessful candidate for the Vice- 



65 

Presidency in 1864 on the Democratic ticket (Presidential) of that 
year of McClellan and Pendleton. Mrs. Pendleton was in all respects 
a most gracious and charming woman of her day. The Mount Vernon 
Council of 1886, the year of her death, said that the beauty of her per- 
son was only surpassed by that of her character, which was exquisitely 
symmetrical. She was a faithful church-woman, broad and charitable, 
and in her home life she was a very benediction to husband, children, 
friends, and servants. Mrs. Pendleton died May 20, 1886. 

Other Sketches Lacking. 

It would have been very pleasing to me to have been able to have 
presented short tributes to others of the Vice-Regents who served with 
Miss Cuningham in the formation of the Mount Vernon Association, and 
the purchase of Mount Vernon in 1858-60. Mrs. Townsend, the Regent, 
in her 1901 report, fitly alludes to these ladies as "a wisely chosen 
band," but I have been unsuccessful in my efforts in that direction. 
With the exception of the narrative touching Miss Cuningham, the first 
Regent, the facts in regard to the lady Vice-Regents referred to in this 
report are mainly derived from printed matter. Mrs. Ritchie, Madame 
LeVert, Madame Murat, and Mrs. Schuyler, nee Hamilton, were dis- 
tinguished women of their day. 

Whilst there is a short sketch of Mrs. Susan L. Pellet, the first 
Secretary, it is to be regretted that no likeness of her could be obtained, 
and I may add the same in reference to Mrs. Hamilton Schuyler, nee 
Mary Morris Hamilton, New York's first Vice-Regent. 

Washijjgton and Mount Vernon Railway. 

The completion of the railroad from Washington, D. C, to Mount 
Vernon has been of great help to the association and its funds, and a 
great convenience to the travelling public. In 1889 the then Regent 
of the association was very decidedly opposed to the building of this 
road, but I observe from the reports since that time that the ladies 
have not only become reconciled to its construction, but that they are 
gratified that there is a railway to Washington, as it is invaluable to 
them in cold winters, when the boats are unable to make the trips. In 
this connection, it may be stated that at the beginning of the occupation 
of Mount Vernon by the association there was only one boat, and that it 
made only tri-weekly trips, possibly until 1870, and that for three years 
during the war it was not deemed wise by the United States Govern- 
ment to allow this boat to make any trips to or landings at Mount Ver- 
non. After the war, probably about 1868 or 1869, (Mrs. Sweat in her 1870 
report says) : "Congress allowed the Mount Vernon Association $7,000, 
to be expended in repairs, under the supervision of an agent of the 
Government. This was done, and the progress of decay arrested." 
The 1870 report says: "By means of credit obtained in Alexandria from 



66 

several generous parties she (Miss Cuningham, the Regent,) sustained 
Mount Vernon during the first winter after the war." Page 4, report 
1870. consolidated reports 1858-95. Congress allowed the $7,000 because 
of the injury done the association by refusing to allow a boat to land at 
Mount Vernon for three years during the war. For twenty years, from 
1870 to 1891, the only public conveyance for passengers for Mount Vernon 
was by boat from Washington, D. C. Since September 19, 1891, the rail- 
way has been in operation from Washington, D. C. Last year the rail- 
way carried to Mount Vernon just about two passengers for every one 
the steamboat took. The railway makes six trips each day, and the boat 
makes two. The fare by steamer or railway is the same, 50 cents, which 
I think entirely reasonable. 

The distance from Washington to Mount Vernon by rail is a frac- 
tion less than sixteen miles, and by boat, a fraction over fourteen 
miles. The depot and steamboat landing are alike at the entrances to the 
Mount Vernon grounds — the boat lands in front; the railroad in the 
rear. A comparison of the figures relating to visitors to Mount Ver- 
non during the last year and ten years ago recalls the fact that the rail- 
way was finished during that time. 

Proposed Nationai, Road to Mount Verxon. 

There is a projected road from Washington, D. C, the capital 
of the nation, to Mount Vernon that ought to be constructed, and 
which, no doubt, in time will be built. Preliminary steps looking 
to the construction of such a road have been taken by the State of Vir- 
ginia and the Congress of the United States. The action of Virginia is 
embodied in laws approved February 18, 1888, and March 5, 1888. The 
fi.rst Act authorizes and contemplates subscriptions from the States 
and territories of the Union, and from private parties, and from the 
counties of Alexandria and Fairfax, and the city of Alexandria. The 
association has authority to acquire a right of way for the avenue two 
hundred feet in width by condemnation, donation, or purchase, to con- 
struct, adorn, and beautify the same, and to keep it in repair. The last 
Act transferred to this Mount Vernon Avenue Association a claim of 
the State of Virginia against the United States for $120,000 and interest 
for moneys advanced by the State in 1790 for the completion of public 
buildings in Washington, D. C. 

Congress, by an Act passed February 23, 1889, directed the Secre- 
tary of War to detail engineer officers of the United States Army to 
make a survey for a national road from a point in Alexandria County 
at or near the Virginia end of the Aqueduct bridge, and thence through 
the counties of Alexandria and Fairfax to Mount Vernon, and to report 
the same, together with the necessary cost of building such a road, to 
the Secretary of War, to be by him transmitted to Congress. 

Col. Peter C. Hains, the very efficient engineer officer to whom this 



67 

survey was committed, executed his task with elaborate fidelity, as his 
report to the first session of the 51st Congress, Ex. Document No. 106, 
shows. The report is illustrated with full maps and drawings, and the 
cost of such a road, eleven different routes and intersecting routes for 
which are set forth in it, is estimated at from little more than one 
million of dollars to approximately two million of dollars. 

It is probably safe to say that the Mount Vernon Avenue Associa- 
tion, chartered by the State of Virginia, will never be able, unaided by 
Congress, to build the road, and since the 12th of January, 1890, when 
Col. Hains's report was presented to the House of Representatives and 
ordered printed, a period of twelve years, nothing has been accom- 
plished in the way of building the road. That it ought to be built, 
probably ninety per cent, of the people of the United States would 
declare, if they were categorically and individually questioned. Let 
us hope that early in the Twentieth Century this road may be con- 
structed by act of Congress, as a direct thoroughfare from the capital 
of the land whose independence Washington was the central figure in 
achieving, to the shrine, where his life was spent, and where his ashes 
rest. 

As Col. Hains well said in his report, transmitting his estimates: 

"The object (of this avenue) is to commemorate the virtues of 
the grandest character in American history. It is to satisfy the craving 
of a patriotic sentiment, to honor the name of Washington, and the 
question of cost should be one of secondary consequence." 

Such a road, when built, will be for all time the Appian way of the 
Republic, the Queen road of the nation. Col. Hains, in this report, 
speaks of it as THE NATIONAL ROAD. 

The Pilgrimage to Mount Verxox Increasing. 
To show how the number of visitors is increasing year by year to 
Mount Vernon, it may be mentioned that the receipts from visitors for 
the year 1880-81 were only $4,932.41. yet these increased in 1890-91 to 
$11,189.96, and the past year, 1900-01, to $21,428.75, or nearly double 
those of ten years ago. The running expenses seem to be growing 
steadily year by year. The number and pay of the several employees 
of the association is not given separately, but only in a lump sum. 

Pay-Roll and Other Matters. 

In 1889 the pay-roll, as it was called, was $5,868; in 1891, $7,188; 
in 1900 it was estimated at $10,980; and for 1901-02 it is estimated at 
$14,140, or nearly three times what it was in 1889. twelve years ago. 
The increase of visitors and the operations of the association, no doubt 
require more employees to watch, preserve and protect the property. 
Rules About Visiting Mount Vernon. 

The grounds at Mount Vernon, including the buildings and the 



68 

tombs, are open to the general public as visitors from 11 A. M. to 5 
P. M., from May 1st to October 31st, inclusive, and from November 1st 
to April 30th, inclusive, from 11 A. M. to 4 P. M. Lunch baskets are 
not permitted in the grounds at Mount Vernon. Mrs. Hudson, the Con- 
necticut Vice-Regent and then Secretary, well says in her 1893 report: 

"Mount Vernon is not an excursion resort for music and feasting. 
It is a sepulchre — holy ground, where repose the mortal remains of Gen- 
eral Washington, a resort for those who can stand with uncovered 
heads and reverent hearts at the gates of the tomb of that 'best of great 
men and greatest of good men.' " 

At the 1901 Council of Regents, very properly a resolution was 
adopted prohibiting smoking on the grounds because of the possibility 
of danger from fire resulting from that indulgence. 

The Wa.shington Name and Family. 

No one honors the memory of Mary, the mother of Washington, nee 
Ball, more than I do, and in whose memory and honor a monument 
has recently (very properly) been erected by the women of the country 
at Fredericksburg, but the Washington name and family are good ones, 
without a flaw in either, and can be traced back to the day of the Nor- 
man conquest. Irving, in his Life of Washington, says: 

"The Washington family is of ancient English stock, the genealogy 
of which has been traced back to the century immediately preceding 
the conquest." 

Irving further says: 

"John and Andrew Washington arrived in Virginia from England 
in 1657. * * * John married Miss Anna Pope, of Westmoreland, 
where he had settled. He took up his residence on Bridges Creek, 
where it empties into the Potomac. He became an extensive planter, 
and, in process of time, a magistrate and a member of the House of 
Burgesses. As Col. Washington, he led Virginia and Maryland forces 
against a band of Seneca Indians, who were ravaging the settlements 
along the Potomac. In honor of his public services and private virtues 
the Parish in which he resided was called after him, and still bears 
the family name of Washington. He lies buried in a vault on Bridges 
creek, which, for generations, was the family place of sepulture. The 
estate continued in the family. His grandson, Augustine, the father 
of George Washington, was born thei'e in 1694. He was twice married, 
the first time April 20, 1715, to Jane, daughter of Caleb Butler, of that 
County, by whom he had four children, of whom only two, Lawrence 
and Augustine, survived the years of childhood. Their mother died 
November 24, 1728, and was buried in the family vault. On the 6th of 
March, 1730, Augustine Washington married in second nuptials Mary, 
the daughter of Col. Ball, a young and beautiful girl, said to have been 
the belle of the Northern Neck. By her he had four sons, George, 



69 

Samuel, John Augustine and Charles, and two daughters — Elizabeth, or 
Betty, who became Mrs. Fielding Lewis, and another girl called Mildred, 
who died in infancy;" 

In our new land of America, the family name from the earliest 
settlement was an honored one, and it seems to me that the father of 
George Washington deserves to be especially remembered in history; 
for it was such a father of two such children as Lawrence and George 
Washington, born of different mothers, who bore each other such affec- 
tion that the one willed to the other Mount Vernon, and because of the 
affection of his elder brother Lawrence, though there was a disparity 
in age of many years, it became the home and property of George 
Washington, and so was laid the foundation of what to-day is the 
nation's shrine. 

Weems in his Life of Washington tells how the father of George 
Washington made his son George the especial object of his thought- 
ful care until his death, which occurred when George was in his tenth 
year. His father ever pressed on him daily the valuable lessons of truth 
and probity. Says Weems in this biography: 

"Never did wise Ulysses take more pains with his beloved Tele- 
machus than did Mr. Washington with George to inspire him with an 
early love of truth." 

I repeat that such a father as Augustine Washington pre-eminently 
deserves to be well remembered in history. 

Harmony and Concord in the Association. ^ 

I have been impressed with the harmony and concord which seems 
to have pervaded the entire proceedings of this Association from its 
organization in 1858 down to the present time. If there have been any 
jars among them — and I have no reason to believe that there have 
been — their reports do not disclose any, and it is especially noteworthy 
that Mrs. Laughton (Madame Berghman), who succeeded Miss Cun- 
ingharh, was practically selected by Miss Cuningham during her life, 
and was the unanimous choice of the Council at the time she was 
chosen Regent, and the present excellent Regent, Mrs. Townsend, was 
similarly designated by Mrs. Laughton to represent her during Mrs. 
Laughton's life at the close of it and when she was in ill health, and 
Mrs. Townsend. in turn, was the unanimous choice of the Council when 
chosen Regent after Mrs. Laughton's death. 

The extract given below is from the proceedings of the Mount Ver- 
non Ladies' Association twenty-six years ago — viz., in 1875. As far 
as the records go or show, the best of relations have always subsisted 
between the Regents and the Board of Visitors of the State of Vir- 
ginia and the respective Governors of the State. At that time, it will 
be observed that the Council and the Board of Visitors held a joint 
session : 



70 

"On Thursday, June 3d, the Council held a session with the Board 
of Visitors, appointed by the Governor. Several business matters were 
discussed and the advice of the Board taken on the steamboat question." 

Visit of Board of Visitors, May 15tii. 

When the Board of Visitors attended at Mount Vernon, May 15, 
1901, they, as well as Your Excellency, were courteously received and 
hospitably entertained. In the absence (from the entertainment and 
reception) of Mrs. Townsend. the Regent, who, though at Mount Ver- 
non, felt constrained to absent herself because of a domestic affliction, 
the Council was admirably presided over by Mrs. L. H. Walker. Though 
one of the earliest appointees of Miss Cuningham as a Vice-Regent from 
her native State of North Carolina — viz., in 1859 — seems still young 
in years and of excellent mental vigor. The other Vice-Regents present 
were: Mrs. L. Z. Leiter, Illinois; Mrs. R. A. Winder, New Hampshire; 
Mrs. Ball, Virginia; Mrs. S. E. .T. Hudson. Connecticut: Mrs. Ida Rich- 
ardson, Louisiana; Mrs. Elizabeth B. Rathbone, Michigan; Miss Harriet 
C. Comegys, Delaware; Mrs. Charles E. Flandrau, Minnesota: Mrs. 
Benjamin Graham, Missouri; Mrs. William Ames, Rhode Island; Mrs. 
Robert D. Johnson, Alabama; Mrs. Eugenia Van Rennselaer. West Vir- 
ginia; Mrs. L. M. Ward, Kansas, and Mrs. Charles Custis Harrison. 
Pennsylvania. Besides these, Mr. H. H. Dodge, Superintendent, and 
Mr. James Young, his assistant, were most agreeable in courtesy and 
considerate attentions. 

Eloquent Tribute to the Work of the Association. 

I think I cannot do better than to adopt these words of Mrs. Sweat, 
the Vice-Regent of Maine, who has been connected with this Associa- 
tion as its Vice-Regent and otherwise for thirty-five years. Though 
written by a member of the Association, the words are as true as they 
are apt and eloquent. They were written in 1886 in her report as 
Secretary of that year: 

"Mount Vernon is not only sacred and solemn as the tomb of 
Washington, but beautiful and cheerful and home-like as his dwelling- 
place, and it is kept so by virtue of the fidelity with which this Asso- 
ciation has preserved the mansion in which the hero lived, the gardens 
where he walked, the lawns he loved, and the trees he planted. To 
continue to set before the world this counterfeit presentment of a Vir- 
ginia home of the eighteenth century, and while actively superintend- 
ing the many expenditures upon the place to retain all possible appear- 
ance of a private home, as it was in the days of Washington, has been 
the steady aim of the Association. To secure to the country this 
permanent memento of the domestic life of the man whose public 
deeds are elsewhere worthily commemorated; to keep in serene har- 
mony the sunny home and the solemn grave, and to mingle the reve- 







llTTl.li IIVSTlXa cit 



71 

rence awakened by the one with the sympathetic enjoyment of the 
other, is the work of the ladies who year after year assemble at Mount 
Vernon to give an account of their trust to all who will pause to read 
It. Justly proud of their efforts, and giving their best energies to the 
trust reposed in them, they look with confidence to the public for 
the steady continuance of the income, without which their work could 
not possibly be accomplished. This income is supplied by visitors from 
all lands. Their homage proves that Mount Vernon, so unlike any 
other spot which the presence of the great dead has hallowed, grows 
more and more beloved as years pass over it. England has its West- 
minster Abbey, and France its Pere la Chaise, all Europe builds costly 
monuments to its warriors and kings; but Washington rests, as the 
Father of his Country should, in the soft shadows of his own home 
guarded by the reverence of the nation thai he founded, and tenderly 
cared for by the women of America." 

A Resume. 
The preceding pages give the legislative history of the Mount Ver- 
non Ladies' Association, their Constitution and By-Laws, the opinion 
of Hon. John Randolph Tucker as to the legal status of the associa- 
tion, concurred in by Attorney General and Governor-elect Montague 
an abstract of the title of Mount Vernon from the grants of Lord 
Culpeper down to the present time, some facts about the occupancy of 
Mount Vernon, and a short sketch of the Washington family, some facts 
touching the organization and growth of the association and Virginia's 
connection therewith with the association. This sketch, for that is aU 
that it is, has required much reading and research, and it seems to me 
that such a narrative ought to have been prepared and printed long ago 
in connection with the association, and as this has not been done, I have 
taken up the duty. 

Conclusion. 

In conclusion I earnestly recommend to Your Excellency the fol- 
lowing: 

1. That this report, in the nature of a general resume of the his- 
tory of the Mount Vernon Association and kindred subjects be printed 
as a separate volume, with a suitable index, and with the following 
Illustrations: Admiral Vernon, after whom Mount Vernon was named- 
Mount Vernon and its tombs, with United States flag over mansion' 
George Washington; Martha Washington: a group, consisting of Law- 
rence Washington, from whom George Washington inherited Mount 
Vernon: Bushrod Washington, to whom George Washington devised 
Mount Vernon; John A. Washington, who sold Mount Vernon to the 
Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union in 18.58: and Washing- 
ton Irving, of New York, who was the largest contributor to the Mount 



•72 

Vernon Association fund, and in this way being the best representative 
contributor of the largest contributing State of the Union (New Yorlv) 
to the purchase of Mount Vernon (in the center of this group it seems 
appropriate to place the Washington coat of arms) ; Pohick Church, 
Fairfax, and Christ Church, Alexandria, as they existed in Washing- 
ton's day. the Episcopal churches at which Washington and his wife 
were attendants during their residence at Mount Vernon; Edward 
Everett, of Massachusetts, the greatest factor in raising money to pur- 
chase Mount Vernon; a group, with Ann Pamela Cuningham. the first 
Mount Vernon Regent, in the center, surrounded by Anna Cora Ritchie 
(Virginia's first Vice-Regent), Octavia Walton LeVert (Alabama's first 
Vice-Regent), Alice Key Pendleton (Ohio's first Vice-Regent, daughter 
of the author of the grand national anthem), and Catharine Willis 
Murat (first Vice-Regent of Florida); a group of Virginia's Governors, 
consisting of Patrick Henry (first Governor, 1776-1779), Joseph John- 
son (Governor, 1852-1856, and who was such an earnest friend of the 
Mount Vernon purchase), Henry A Wise (whose approval of the Con- 
stitution and By-Laws of the Mount Vernon Association, January 5, 
1858, effected the incorporation of the Association as of that date). 
J. Hoge Tyler (our present Executive), and in the center of this group 
the State shield. The State flag should be reproduced as a separate 
illustration. To these should be added a map of Mount Vernon, as it 
exists to-day, with its 235% acres, and a map showing Washington, 
D. C, as it is connected with Mount Vernon by the Potomac river and 
the Washington, Alexandria and Mount Vernon railway, and also the 
proposed Mount Vernon avenue. The first map has been furnished by 
Gen. G. L. Gillespie, Chief of Engineers, U. S. A., and from this photo- 
lithos for this volume can be made. The second map has been pre- 
pared and furnished by the United States Geological Survey (C. D. 
Walcott, Director), by Mr. R. U. Goode. son of Hon. John Goode, and 
from this, also, photo-lithos may be made. Eacii of these maps were fur- 
nished on the special request of Hon. John F. Rixey, the very efficient 
member in the United States House of Representatives from the Mount 
Vernon district. 

2. That Your Excellency obtain from the Clerks of the County and 
Circuit Courts of Fairfax copies of the contract for the purchase of 
Mount Vernon, dated April 1, 1858 : of the decree of Circuit Court of 
Fairfax of November 6, 1868; the deed of Commissioner Taylor of No- 
vember 12, 1868, and a copy of the deed from Jay Gould and wife of 
July 23, 1887, and file the same with the Secretary of the Common- 
wealth, that they may thus be preserved at Richmond and always 
readily accessible for reference. 

3. That the chapter of the Code of 1873 touching Mount Vernon 
and kindred matters be embraced in the next Code of Virginia, and 




I. Patrick Henry, Virginia's first Governor, 1776-'79, and Washing- 
ton's close friend. II. Joseph Johnson, Grovernor, 1852-'56 ; the 
great friend of the Mount Vernon purchase. III. Henry A. Wise, 
who, January 5, 1858, approved Constitution and By-Laws, and so 
made effective the Association's charter. IV. J. Hog:e Tyler, first 
(jovernor of the 20th century. V. State Shield. 



73 

that there be added to it such an epitome of this report as may be 
regarded as useful for future reference. 

The Need of This Report. 

The need of just such a report as I have herein presented is shown 
by this extract from the report of the Mount Vernon Association Press 
Committee of 1901: 

"During the interval of Council an opportunity came of correct- 
ing an erroneous statement, vs^hich was published in one of the popular 
magazines, which had an illustrated article upon the centennial of 
Washington's burial. The misstatement was to the effect that Mount 
Vernon was owned by the general government." 

All of which is respectfully submitted, with the full approval of my 
fellow-members of the Board of Visitors, as the subjoined will show. 

JAMES B. SENER. 



Richmond, Va., Oct. 16, 1901. 

The foregoing report is from the pen of the Hon. J. B. Sener, and 
the labor and research it evinces are his own. We do not deem it in- 
delicate in us, his associates on this Board, in adopting this report, to 
express our gi-atification that Judge Sener, by his industry and scholarly 
attainments, has woven into a very complete and interesting history 
of Mount Vernon much valuable historical data, collected from a wide 
field of enquiry, which, unless preserved in this concrete form, would 
probably be lost to memory in coming years. 

J. L. M. CURRY, 
JOHN A. COKE, 
RO. L. GARDNER, 
BEVERLEY B. MUNFORD, 
of Board of Visitors. 



APPENDIX TO REPORT. 

By direction of Governor Tyler, these extracts are printed below 
as an appendix to the foregoing report. They are from certified copies 
of the original contract for the sale and purchase of Mount Vernon, 
made between John A. Washington, vendor, and Ann Pamela Cuning- 
ham, first Regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the 
Union, of date April 6, 1858, recorded in the County Court of Fairfax; 



74 

the decree of November 6, 1868, of the Circuit Court of Fairfax, in the 
case of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union vs. John 
A. Washington's Heirs and Executor; the deed of W. Arthur Taylor, 
et als, to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, dated 
November 12, 1868, and the deed of Jay Gould and wife of July 23, 
1887, to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, the copies, 
as certified by the respective clerks, together with the typewritten 
opinion of the late John Randolph Tucker, touching the ownership of 
Mount Vernon by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, 
and the rights of the State of Virginia in respect thereto, together with 
the written concurrence of Attorney-General Montague, such concur- 
rence bearing his written signature, are filed with the Secretary of 
the Commonwealth, labeled: "Official Papers Relating to Mount Vernon 
and the State of Virginia." The certificates of acknowledgment to the 
certified copies of the agreement, decree, and deeds are omitted from 
what is printed below. 



AGREEMENT OP 1858. 

This agreement, made this 6th day of April, in the year 1858, be- 
tween John A. Washington, of the county of Fairfax, in the State of 
Virginia, of the one part, and the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association 
of the Union, incorporated by an act of the General Assembly of Vir- 
ginia, passed the 17th day of March, 1856, and amended and re-enacted 
by an act of Assembly, passed the 19th day of March, 1858, of the 
second part, witnesseth that the said John A. Washington, for and in 
consideration of $18,000 cash in hand paid, and of the further sum of 
$182,000 to be paid at the times and in the manner hereinafter men- 
tioned, by the parties of the second part hereto, hath agreed, and by 
these presents doth agree, to sell and convey, as hereinafter mentioned, 
in fee simple, to the said parties of the second part and their successors, 
200 acres of land, part of the Mount Vernon tract, in the said county 
of Fairfax, including the late mansion, as well as the tomb of 
George Washington, together with the gardens, grounds, and wharf 
and landing, now constructed on the Potomac river, but subject 
to all the provisions, restrictions, and conditions set forth, spe- 
cified, and declared in and by the said act of Assembly, passed 
the 19th day of March, 1858, and retaining in him, the said 
John A. Washington, his heirs, and assigns, the title to the 
property aforesaid, with the possession thereof, until the sum of 
$200,000, with all the interest which may accrue as hereinafter 
mentioned, shall have been fully paid to him or them. The said par- 
ties of the second part covenant and agree with the said John A. 
Washington, his heirs, and assigns to execute and deliver to him or 



75 

them forthwith, in consideration of the premises, four several bonds, 
sealed with the corporate seal of the said Mount Vernon Ladies' Asso- 
ciation of the Union, all bearing even date with these presents, and 
for the several amounts and payable at the several times hereinafter 
mentioned — that is to say, one bond for the sum of $57,000, payable on 
or before the 1st day of January, 1859; one other bond for the sum of 
$41,666.66, payable on or before the 22d day of February, 1860; one 
other bond for the sum of $41,666.67, payable on or before the 22d day 
of February, 1861, and one other bond for the sum of $41,666.67, payable 
on or before the 22d day of February, 1862, with lawful interest upon 
the said several sums of money to be computed from the date of the 
said several bonds until paid — making when paid in the aggregate (in- 
cluding the said sum of $18,000 paid in money to the said John A. 
Washington as hereinbefore acknowledged) the full sum of $200,000 
of principal money. And the said parties of the second part further 
covenant that the said John A. Washington, his heirs, and assigns shall 
at all times have and enjoy the right to inter the remains of such per- 
sons whose remains are in the vault at Mount Vernon as^ are not now 
interred, and to place the said vault in such a secure and permanent 
condition as he or they shall see fit, and to enclose the same so as not 
to include more than a half-acre of land, and that the said vault, the 
remains in and around it, and the enclosure shall never be removed 
nor disturbed, and that no other person hereafter shall ever be interred 
or entombed within the said vault or enclosure. And, furthermore, that 
until the full payment of the said four bonds for the aggregate sum 
of $182,000, with interest, as aforesaid to the said John A. Washington, 
his personal representatives, or assigns, the possession of the said 
property shall not be required of him or them, nor shall he, his heirs, or 
assigns be i*equired to make, execute, or deliver a conveyance of the 
said property or of any part thereof. And, furthermore, that so long 
as the said John A. Washington, his heirs, or assigns shall retain pos- 
session of the said property according to the terms of this agree- 
ment, neither he nor they, nor any of these, shall be liable to account 
for or to pay to the said parties of the second part, or to any one in 
their behalf, any rents or profits of or for the said property or any 
part thereof, nor be held responsible in any manner for any loss or 
injury, by fire or otherwise, of the whole or any part of the buildings 
or improvements situated upon the property aforesaid, and that from 
and after the 1st day of January, 1859, they, the parties of the second 
part, will pay all the taxes, assessments, and charges upon the property 
hereby agreed to be sold and conveyed. And the said parties of the 
second part hereto do further covenant and agree with the said John 
A. Washington, his heirs, and assigns that if the said parties of the 
second part shall fail and make default in the payment of the princi- 
pal sum of money mentioned in the said bond to become due and 



76 



payable on the 1st day of January, 1859 — to-wit, the sum of $57,000, 
and of the interest accruing thereon at the time specified in the said 
bond for the payment thereof or of any part of such principal sum or 
interest — then that the said sum of $18,000, paid as aforesaid at the 
time of executing this agreement by the said parties of the second part 
to the said John A. Washington on account of the purchase money of 
the property aforesaid, shall be held and taken as liquidated damages 
to him, his personal representatives, and assigns for the failure or de- 
fault of the said parties of the second part in not complying with the 
terms of this agreement, and that the said John A. Washington, his 
personal representatives, or assigns, shall not be required to refund the 
said sum of $18,000, or the interest thereon, or any part thereof, to the 
said parties of the second part. And, further, that this agreement 
shall upon such failure and default as aforesaid be absolutely void, 
and the said John A. Washington, his heirs, and assigns be restored 
and remitted to all his and their rights in and to the property afore- 
said and every part thereof in like manner, and to all intents and pur- 
poses, as if .this agreement had never been made and entered into. 
And it is further agreed between the parties hereto, that if the said 
parties of the second part shall on the said 1st day of January, 1859, 
pay the said sum of $57,000. with all the interest accruing thereon, to 
the said John A. Washington, his personal representatives, or assigns, 
that then, and in that case and not otherwise, the said parties of the 
second part may at any time thereafter, upon giving thirty days' no- 
tice of such their intention to the said John A. Washington, his per- 
sonal representatives, or assigns, pay to him or them at the termina- 
tion of the said thirty days the entire residue of the purchase money 
aforesaid, and, in case of their so doing, a deed of conveyance in fee 
simple with general warranty and relinquishment of dower of the said 
property is to be forthwith executed and delivered by the said John 
A. Washington, his heirs, or assigns, and the possession of the said 
property is to be forthwith surrendered by him or them to the said par- 
ties of the second part. And it is further agreed that after the pay- 
ment by the said parties of the second part of the said sum of $57,000 
on the said 1st day of January, 1859, and of all the interest thereon, 
but not until the payment of such principal sum and interest, the said 
John A. Washington, his personal representatives, or assigns shall and 
will receive any sum or sums of money not less in amount than $5,000 
which the said parties of the second part may desire to pay to the said 
John A. Washington, his personal I'epresentatives, or assigns on ac- 
count of the purchase money of the said property; provided, however, 
at least ten days' notice of such their desire shall be given to the said 
John A. Washington, his personal representatives, or assigns. 

In witness whereof the said John A. Washington hath to these 



77 



presents signed his name and affixed his ^P«l +h -, 
above mentioned as the rlpfp h! ! . ' ^ '^''^' ^'^'^ ^^^i' ^i-st 

Association of the Un^n hi 1 ' , /'' ^'''"'^' "^""^^ ^^^-«' 
adopted on the 6 h dayof ApHrisss".? T.^-''' "^'""^ ^«"-^^- 
si.n her name and affix L cCorate seal of thet" ff^' ^^'^^'^ ^^ 
tl^e same da. and .ear tirst aho/e nTen^fo^ld^L'^Lrterer ^'^' ^^ 

(Seal) JOHN A. WASHINGTON 
(Seal) ANN PAMELA CUNINGHAM, 
-4. Southern Matron Regent. 

DECREE OF 1868. 
In the Circuit Court of Fairfax Cottvtv v xt 

-FAIRFAX COU^Tl, Va., NOVEMBER TeRM. 1868 

2 ;^e LarZte.' Mount Yernon Association of tUe Union ) 
John A. Washington's Heirs and Ex. ] 



This cause came on to be hpaivi tviic ,-+i i 
year 1868. upon the MU ZlZ's f Richar^B w^:.''"?"' '° "^ 
tor of John A. Washington «n.i i- ^^^^^^ ^- Washington, execu- 

ELaTw:.ir"LrM:;-rw' i"^- °' '^"""" ---^ 

Eleanor L. Washfngron and G™i w i"^'™' '''"'■'=""='' Washington, 
ing been argued byTounsel Ion ™ f ""=.'°"'' ""' ""^ "'^O ^"^ l^^- 
order, adjudge, a/d decree traW°"l=::r7av7o'r"t ''° T"" "'°"' 

?:'ririZtt::r?"^^'"--^^^^ 

- -3 can., a grd'aJ^TuIirdrerot hLSln^a^TsaL^lntf "^ 

Mo\:rvT::j.?o\rh",dU^?hV3"':v'°"^"-^-"="'-^'-°- 

ot the Union ;ccordi^g L the t "" "'™°" ^=""^^ Association 

subject to the condtuons aSi S:,"' '"'"''"""'^ °' "= ■=•""•'"■ -^ 
proceedings referred to Ze rder',""''''"''' '" ™""-''^' '" '"^ 
A. Washington and the Tald I „, T '°'° '"""■"° '"^ ""= Jo^n 
Union, on the 6 h day o Iprii 18 s » ."t".' """^ ^--iatlon ot the 
and decree that the said Lou a F w, v T '°'"' '""'' '""'^■- <"■'"'' 
the adult defendants in thioa^se do '"nir "?.■'"' ''■ ^-'>-^"'". 
liverlng of the said deed or bar^^ sTl^aid lEls r^ls" ^al "' 

DEED OF NOVEMBER 12 1868 

tweerwiiS Arttuf Ulor Tf't," ''rT'' '° ">' ^^ ''''■ '- 
commissioner, as -einrr'n^UtLrof-'.htlr ^^^J^rSf ?! 



78 

Washington and Jane C. Washington, of Jefferson county, in West Vir- 
ginia, of the second part; and the I^adies' Mount Vernon Association 
of the Union, of the third part. Whereas, on the 6th day of No- 
vember, 1868, in a certain suit in chancery, pending in the Circuit Court 
of Fairfax county, in Virginia, in which the Ladies' Mount Vernon 
A.ssociation of the Union were complainants, and John A. Washington's 
heirs and executor were defendants, it was by the said court ordered, 
adjudged, and decreed that the said William Arthur Taylor, thereby 
appointed special commissioner for the purpose, do execute and deliver 
to the Ladies' Mount Vernon Association of the Union," the plaintiffs 
in said cause, a good and sufficient deed of bargain and sale in fee 
simple, conveying the tract of land in the proceedings in said cause 
described, known as Mount Vernon, to be held by the said Ladies' 
Mount Vernon Association of the Union, according to the terms and 
provisions of its charter, and subject to the conditions and limitations 
contained in the contract, in said proceedings referred to, made and 
entered into between the late John A. Washington and the Ladies 
Mount Vernon Association of the Union on the 6th day of April. 1858; 
and did further order and decree that the said Louisa F. Washington 
and Jane C. Washington, the adult defendants in said cause, do unite 
in the execution and delivery of the said deed of bargain and sale. 

Now this deed witnesseth that the said William A. Taylor, com- 
missioner as aforesaid, in obedience to and execution of the said order 
and decree, does hereby grant, bargain, and sell to the Ladies' Mount 
Vernon Association of the Union, to be held, used, and employed by 
it as in the said recited order and decree expressed, and subject to the 
conditions and limitations of the contract therein referred to, the tract 
of land in the said decree mentioned, the same being bounded and de- 
scribed as follows (according to a survey and plat thereof made by 
Samuel R. Johnson, surveyor, on the 28th of May, 1858) — that is to 
say: Beginning at a stone near a large wild-cherry tree and running 
north 47 degrees, west 5,025 feet to a stone in the center of the old road: 
thence with the road south 8 degrees and 25 minutes, west 1,722 to a 
black oak tree, south 10 degrees and 50 minutes, west 975 feet to a 
stone in the center of the road, south 18 degrees, west 435 feet to a 
stone on the east side of said road; thence south 62 degrees and 45 
minutes, east 2,660 feet to a stone at the mouth of Hell Hole, and 
with the river south 87 degrees, east 227 feet, north 60 degrees and 45 
minutes, east 903 feet, north 73 degrees, east 726 feet, north 51 de- 
grees, east 2801 feet to the beginning — containing 202 acres, together 
with all and singular the rights, privileges, and appurtenances to the 
said land in any manner belonging (the same being part of that tract 
of land called Mount Vernon, of which General George Washington 
died seized and possessed). And this deed doth further witness that 
the said Louisa F. Washington and Jane C. Washington, in obedience 



79 

to the aforesaid decree and in consideration of $1, do hereby grant, 
bargain, and sell to the Ladies Mount Vernon Association of the Union 
all their right, title, and interest to and in the tract of land herein- 
before described and conveyed, with the rights, privileges, and appur- 
tenances aforesaid. 

Witness the following signatures and seals: 

W. ARTHUR TAYLOR. (Seal) 

LOUISA FONTAINE WASHINGTON. (Seal) 
JANE C. WASHINGTON. (Seal) 



DEED OF JULY 23, 1887. 

This deed made this 23d day of July, 1887, between Jay Gould and 
Helen D. Gould, his wife, of the city of New York, of the first part, 
and the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, of the second 
part; 

Witnesseth, That in consideration of $], and the good will the 
party of the first part bear the grantee, the parties of the first part do 
give and grant unto the party of the second part a certain tract of 
land situated in Mount Vernon District, Fairfax county, Virginia, it 
being the same piece of land purchased by the party of the first part 
of Lawrence Washington and E. S. Washington, and being part of that 
tract of land of which General George Washington died seized and 
possessed, and bounded as follows: Beginning at a wild-cherry tree 
on the bank of the Potomac river, corner to the land of the Association, 
thence with line of said tract north 46 Vo degrees, west 19.75 chains to 
a stake in the center of road, corner to number 7; thence with road 
north 36% degrees, east 8.25 chains to a stake corner to number 6, 
south 79% degrees, east 6.50 chains, south 85% degrees, east 12.13 
chains to a stake in edge of river; thence with the river shore to be- 
ginning—containing 33% acres, the said tract of land being and embrac- 
ing lot numbered 8, and assigned in undivided moities to Lawrence 
and Eliza S. Washington by a decree of the Circuit Court of Fauquier 
County in a certain suit wherein L. F. Washington, et al., were com- 
plainants and John A. Washington, et al., were defendants. 

Witness the following signatures and seals: 

JAY GOULD, (Seal) 

HELEN D. GOULD. (Seal) 



80 

See page 28 of this report, and read in connection with Lawrence 
Washington's will devising Mount Vernon to George Washington, the 
will of Augustine Washington, father of Lawrence, George and Augus- 
tine Washington. Augustine Washington was content with his Maddox 
land in Westmoreland, and did not desire the Prince William land, 
afterwards the Fairfax land, because Fairfax was carved out of Prince 
William in 1742. The Mount Vernon tract was not so named until 
1743, or shortly after that. This statement refers to items 5 and 6 in 
the subheading of "The Title to Mount Vernon." 



ENDORSEMENT AND COMMENDATION OF THE FOREGOING 
REPORT BY THE GOVERNOR. 

Governor J. Hoge Tyler, in his message to the General Assembly of 
the State of December 4th, refers to the foregoing report as follows: 

"Special attention is invited to the report of the Board of Visitors, 
on the part of the State, to Mount Vernon for the present year. This is 
of historic value. It gives the full history of the movement begun in 
December, 1853, for the purchase of Mount Vernon by the Mount Vernon 
Ladies' Association of the Union, all the legislation of the State in rela- 
tion to the Association as well as the action of the Legislatures of the 
past looking to the retention of the remains of Washington at Mount 
Vernon, the facts showing the purchase of Mount Vernon, the agreement 
for its purchase, and the deeds which point out how Mount Vernon is 
held. The credit for this report is due to Judge James B. Sener, one of 
the Board of Visitors. Judge Sener has given to the preparation of this 
report a great deal of time, much investigation, and very thoughtful con- 
sideration. The report has the full concurrence of the other members 
of the Board— to-wit: Hons. J. L. M. Curry and B. B. Munford, Captain 
John A. Coke and Mr. R. L. Gardner. It is a most appropriate addition 
to the State's history, embodying in concreted form the story of Mount 
Vernon, including its present ownership and management. It may be 
added that every fact relating to the home of Washington interests not 
only all Virginians and all citizens of the Union, but many people in 
foreign lands." 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Mount Vernon Frontispiece. 

Admiral Vernon 4 

Washingtons — Irving group 29 

George Washington 35 

Martha Washington 36 

Pohick Church 43 

Christ Church, Alexandria 44 

State Flag 46 

Edward Everett 47 

A. P. Cuningham group 55 

Map of Mount Vernon of To-day 70 

Governors group 72 

Map of Mount Vernon and Washington, D. C, of To-day 80 



INDKX. 

A 

Adams, John Quincy — 

Message from, to Congress, Dec, 1825 4 

Association — 

First Act chartering it 5 

Present charter of 7 

Incorporated as "The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of 

the Union" 7 

What authorized to hold 7-8 

Capital stock of 8 

The charter of contained in the Act of 1858 12 

Act of March 19, 1858, permanent, fixed and unchangeable. ... 12 

Forbidden to alien, change or lease 12 

How it might cea,se to exist 13 

Officers of — Secretary, Treasurer, etc 15 

Council of — Sessions held annually, at Washington or Mount 

Vernon 15 

Secretary — duties of 15-16 

Treasurer — duties of 15-16 

First incorporation of women ever formed in the United 

States 28 

Organization and early history of 40-41 

Beginning of 45 

Harmony and concord in 69 

Eloquent tribute to the work of 70-71 

Anderson. .1 oseph R 27 

Assets of the association 51 

Appendix 73 

B 

Board of Visitors — 

Act authorizing appointment of 9 

To receive no pay 9 

Their duties . . , 11 

Rights 01' .' 13 

Visit to Mount Vernon, May 15th 70 

Buchanan, James GO 

Buford, A. S 22 

Berghman, Madame (Mrs. Laughton) 46, 69 

Bloxham. W. D 63 



84 



Constitution and By-Laws, to be approved by Governor and copy 

filed in office of Secretary of Commonwealth 11 

When they became effective 14 

Council — 

Sessions held annually at Washington or Mount Vernon 15 

By-Laws governing 16 

Committees of 16 

How composed 16 

Credit for the Mount Vernon purchase, to whom due 47 

Christ Church, Alexandria 43 

Carter, Richard H 22 

Cabell, Mrs. Julia M 23 

Chapman, A. A., remarks of 26 

Cuningham, Ann Pamela (Southern Matron) 41, 46, 69 

Name — how spelled 55 

Cuningham, Mrs. Louisa, mother of Ann P 42 

Condition of buildings, grounds and tombs at Mount Vernon. ... 49 

Conclusion 72 

Curry, J. L. M 1-73-80 

Coke, John A 1-73-80 

Chace, Mrs. A. W 37 

D 

Davis Mrs. Jefferson 61 

Dunn, Isaac B 22 

Duke, R. T. W., Grand Master 37 

Dodge, H. H 50-70 



Everett, Edward 59-61 

Description of Mount Vernon 60 

Who induced him to speak and write of Mount Vernon 60-61 

Present to 61 



Fillmore, Millard 60 



Gardner, Ro. L 73-80 

Goode, John 80 

Goode, R. U 80 

Gillespie, George L 72 



Johnson, Governor Joseph 20 



85 

H 

Home of Washington- 
How Gen. Washington came in possession 30 

Its occupancy from his day to this time. . qn 00 

Herbert, Upton H ^""^^ 

Hollingsworth, J. M .'.""" " J! 

Harland, Marian ^ 

Hamilton, Mary Morris j, * 

Hains, Col. C. P 

Harmony and concord ^q „„ 

Henry, Governor Patrick 

Hearst, Mrs. PA 

J 

22-23-24-72 

L 

Legislation, early 

Codes 1860 and 1873, Chap. LXXV ] 

Legislature 

4 

General Assembly of 1832 

Undoubted right to appoint Board of Visitors iq 

Action of, 1855-6 . 

9f\ 

Action of, 1858 

Lee, Governor Fitzhugh oil 

Lee, Mrs. Robert E ^]r 

Lee, G. W. Custis 4 

LeVert, Octavia Walton / 

Longfellow, Henry W ^^ 

Lear, Tobias ....... ^"^ 

40 

M 

Mount Vernon 

Resident Secretary and Superintendent" conservator of ' the 
peace 

Legislative history touching '. 2022 

Title to from 1674 to present time [ 28 30 

Mansion, buildings and grounds 34.36 

Restorations and donations 

The purchase of ' 

Moore, R. Walton ... ^^ 

Montague, A. J., Attorney-General ]l 

McKenzie. Lewis . 

90 

Maxey, Mrs. Thomas S 

35 



86 

Masonic Order 37 

McSweeney, M. B., Governor of South Carolina, tribute to Ann 

Pamela Cuningham 51-54 

Murat, Catherine Willis 61-63 

Munf ord, Beverley B 1-73-80 

Mitchell, Mrs. Martha 17 

N 

National Monument at Washington, D. C 27 

National road to Mount Vernon 66-67 

o 

Official papers relating to Mount Vernon 74 

I. Agreement of April 6, 1858 74, 75, 76, 77 

II. Decree of Circuit Court of Fairfax, November 6, 1868. ... 77 

III. Deed of November 12, 1868 77-78 

IV. Deed of July 23, 1887 79 

P 

Property of The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union 

forever to be held sacred to the Father of his Country 8-13 

Pettigru, James L 41 

Pellet, Mrs. Susan L 41 

Pohick Church 43 

Purchase money — how contributed; showing amount of contribu- 
tion per capita contributed 47-48 

Pendleton, Alice Key 64-65 

Pilgrimage to Mount Vernon 67 

Pay-roll and other matters 67 

R 

Rathbone, Mrs 38 

Regent and Vice-Regents — 

How provided for 15 

Vacancies in — how filled 15 

Names of since organization in 1858-1901 inclusive 17-20 

Relics 38-40 

Ritchie, Mrs. Anna Cora Mowatt 41-44 

Tribute to 55-56 

Ritchie, W. F., husband of Anna Cora Ritchie 56 

Riggs, B. Francis 51 

Riggs, George W 51 

Rules about visiting Mount Vernon 67 68 

Resume 71 

Recommendations 71-72 



87 

Report, need of the 

Endorsement and commendation ' by' Governor' 'Tvl'er 11 

Richardson, Mrs. Ida ^" 

Rixey, J. p.. 37 

72 

s 

Stevens, Wm. G 

Sweat Margaret J. M.,' a tribute'to 'Ann 'pamela 'cuningham .' " " 54-55 
Eloquent tribute to the work of the association . . " ' 69 ^O 

Sener, James B. ^^''^ 

1-73-80 

T 

Taxation, exemption from 

Title to Mount Vernon ^ 

Note as to title // ^^"^^ 

Tucker, John Randolph ^^ 

""'"ofV^?.''' ''°""' Vernon 'Association: and the ■right's ''''' 
or the State m connection therewith 

Thanks extended bv Council to 

Townsend. Mrs. Justine Van Rensselaer' .' .' V. «. «f 

Tombs — o5, 64, 65 

The new 

The old '^^ 

How and when decorated ^"^ 

Tracy, Miss S. C. (Mrs. Upton H. 'Herbert) ?, 

Tyler, John 49 

Tallahassee, why so named and by whom ^? 

Tyler, J. Hoge (see group of Governors and ■illustration's)".' .■;;: ." 1.72 

V 

Van Buren, Ladies, the 

Vernon, Admiral ^^ 

Virginia — l 

Mount Vernon Association ceasing to exist property reverts 

Right of visitation reserved to . . ^ 

Governor to appoint annually five Visitors ^l 

Association ceasing property reverts to. ,1 

Mount Vernon Asociation of Virginia, organi'zation ' of.' [ [ [ [ [ 22 

w 

Washington, Lawrence 

Washington, George -'■ 

Of the remains of "'" 

Washington, Martha . ^ 

4, 35, 36 



88 

Washington, Col. L. Q 10 

Washington, Bushrod 32 

Washington, John A 33, 57 

Washington, Mrs. Ella Bassett 36 

Wise, Henry A., Governor 41 

Washington, Lawrence, son of John A 28-30-43 

Ward, Julia Meeker 57 

Wise, John S., tribute to Mrs. A. C. Ritchie ^ 57-58 

Washington, name and family 68-69 

Washington and Mount Vernon Railway 65-66 

Walker, Mrs. L. H 70 

Y 

Yeadon, Richard 41 

Yancey, William L gl 

Young, James 50 




1 



